The Time Turner
by Lyra Pendragon
Summary: What happens when the Marauders, Lily, and Snape are sent to the future? They meet Harry, they learn about their own pasts and wonder if James and Lily were drunk when they got married, oh yeah, and they get caught by Voldemort. preHBP
1. The Time Turner

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A/N My THIRD story!!!! Hooray...or not, I'm not sure, but this is pretty kewl anyway, cause the only one that can accuse me of stealing their story is J. K. Rowling, whom I'm going to create a disclaimer for anyway....

Disclaimer: A lot of the ideas and information out of this story is owned by J. K. Rowling, not me, and I am not trying to steal it! Good! The attack dogs are still being held at bay...*wipes forehead*

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Chapter One: The Time Turner

"Check it out!" James said, dangling the hourglass in front of Sirius's face, grinning like a clown and chuckling merrily, which was probably due to the two or three bottles of rum he'd been drinking earlier.

Sirius took it and looked it over, looking bored.

"So?" He said, handing it back and leaning against the back of their herbology class's greenhouse (where they were meant to be, I might add), sticking a cigar in his mouth, but not lighting it and staring up at the sky with the disinterest of one verging on sleep. "It's an hourglass, what of it?"

James coiled as if he'd been slapped and said with disbelief, "This? An _hourglass?_ Sirius, my friend, you've gone blind in a night! This is the rarest thing that I've ever laid hands on in my life! It's a time turner!"

Sirius shot up so fast that the slightly tipsy James beside him fell over, and snatched it out of his hand. His eyes suddenly lit up with the kind of dangerous curiosity that had united the two boys from the very start and he now held the hourglass as if it were a prized possession that he'd never even imagined he would behold.

"Where'd you get it?" Sirius breathed, stroking the time turner's long golden chain with almost loving caresses. 

James was quickly subdued from his small fit of chuckles that he often suffered when he drank, straightened his robes (but left his forever untidy hair alone, in the hopes that it looked even more windswept than usual) and said, "Got it from my dad's collection of ancient stuff that he has lying around. You know...all those old spell books that don't teach worth a damn and all those old quidditch posters and some of his old school supplies--I honestly don't know why he keeps it. Anyway, I thought I'd have a look-through, and I found this. Don't know where he got it."

Sirius looked sideways at him wryly and said, "By the way--what did your mum and dad say about me coming this Christmas? Or did that slip your mind too, Lump?"

James raised a slim eyebrow and said, "It's only September, Padfoot. No sweat. We've got months to ask. Why?"

Sirius laughed harshly and started pulling up tufts of grass, "Well, we'd better make sure soon, cause my dad says that he's moved all of my stuff over to my Uncle Alphard's house and since I ran away once I'm not getting the chance to run away again...oh yeah, and he says that Uncle Alphard and I can be house mates....blood traitors together...."

James looked at the sky with a barely disguised look of mingled fury and disgust on his face and worked for a few moments at mastering himself before looking over at Sirius again and saying, "Don't worry, Sirius, I'll ask my parents as soon as I can, okay? You can come back to my house for Christmas this year..."

They sat in silence for a few minutes until the bell rang off in the distance, then stood up to join the crowd of students leaving the greenhouses and shifted through classmates to join Remus and Peter. 

"Where were you?" Remus asked without looking up from the handful of notes he was going over. 

"Ask us no questions and we'll tell you no lies, Moony." James said lazily as he watched Lily Evans's hair swaying as she walked ahead of him.

"Right." Remus said dully, just as consumed in his notes as James was in his long-time crush.

Peter watched James with big, watery, admiring eyes and said in a squeaky voice, "No, really, James, where were you two?"

"Leave the guy alone, he's got Evans on his mind. You'll never penetrate into his thick skull now." Sirius said with a smirk, nodding at the red haired girl in front of them.

James seemed completely unaware that Sirius had just sent an open insult across to him. So did Peter.

"...huh?" Peter said uncertainly while he looked for whatever it was that Sirius had just nodded to.

Sirius laughed at the empty expression on Peter's face and turned to Remus. "We'll tell you once we get somewhere where we're sure we won't be overheard."

Remus looked up at Sirius, his eyebrows raised, but Sirius only smiled and walked in front of James's view of Lily Evans, to a resounding, "Get out of the way, Padfoot!" from James.

Lily stopped with the shout and turned around, turning angry emerald green, almond-shaped eyes on Remus.

A/N review please! I need reviews, I mean it, or else I'll get all sad and I won't want to write the story anymore. And, by the way, unless you've read the fifth book, you probably won't have a clue who Sirius's Uncle Alphard is, so I'll just tell you that he, like Sirius, was burned off of the Black family tree because he is supposedly a 'blood traitor'. Actually he just gave Sirius a little money when he ran away....Anyway. I hate Peter Pettigrew (filthy, murdering, traitorous...) so I plan on making him as stupid as possible in the story. I love cliffhangers...but I'm sure you don't. hehe. *runs away screaming as the attack dogs are released*


	2. Moony's Doubts

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I haven't even made another copy of this story...but I've daydreamed about it a lot....now I'm going to get all obsessed with James and Lily...it seems that everyone is lately. Well, I wanted to explain to myself why Lily ever got to loving James...so I started daydreaming about it....

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, James Potter, Lily Evans, and many other characters in this text are solely the property of J. K. Rowling, they aren't mine and I'm not trying to steal them, merely borrow them. Indeed.

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Chapter Two: Moony's Doubts

Lily stopped with the shout and turned around, turning angry emerald green, almond-shaped eyes on Remus.

"Will you please keep your friends quiet, Lupin?" She said, rather snappily. 

Remus looked at her above his notes, with a pleading look, and said quietly, "I can't control my friends, Lily. I'm sure James would shut up if you just asked him, though."

James laughed. "Yeah! Come on, Evans! I won't bite!" To which Sirius sniggered quietly and Peter honked a goose-like laugh.

Lily promptly turned away and sped up, leaving a distressed James surrounded by his chuckling friends behind.

"Why don't you just give up on her?" Sirius said when he'd finally stopped laughing as they turned into the Great Hall for lunch. "She doesn't like you."

James cast an angry look at his best friend and said, "She likes me. She just doesn't know it yet."

"Ha. You know, that's funny, but I recall her telling you...eh...what was it? Oh yeah--about forty million times that she _doesn't_ like you at all. Why, when was it?, just last week she told you that she'd rather go out with a jackass than you. If you ask me, that's a little harsh for there to be any chance of improvement."

James snorted, "You're acting like _my_ obsession with Evans is something to worry about--" He jerked his thumb in the direction of one curly blonde headed girl who was walking close by with a group of friends.

Sirius's cheeks went red. "My obsession with Trixie Bones is a hundred times more pure and truthful than _your _obsession with Evans."

"All you want to do with Trixie is snog her then cast her aside, just like all of the other girls--" James said heatedly.

"At least there _were _other girls for me!" Sirius interrupted, "All you've ever had eyes for is a girl that doesn't like you--"

"Boys! _Please _settle down!" 

James and Sirius looked up at Professor McGonagall, who was looking incredulously from one to the other, then at each other, and sat down peacefully to eat.

"I keep thinking there's something we've forgotten." James said as he ate his way through a chicken leg a few minutes later.

Peter promptly dropped his own chicken wing and piped up, "I know, James, it was the thing that you didn't want to show us until we got to be alone--"

"Yeah!" Sirius said. "Remember the--"

"Shh!" James said, pointing at a dreamy-eyed girl who was staring unblinkingly at Sirius not too far down the table. She quickly averted her eyes toward a spot just above Sirius's head as he saw her looking and the two boys laughed pitilessly. 

"Alright, then." James cut in slyly, "We'll tell you what we've got if you hurry up. I'm full." And as if to prove his point he hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and headed out of the Great Hall toward the marble staircase.

Fifteen minutes later (A/N Hey! It's a long way up to the Gryffindor dorms!) Sirius, Remus, and a rather sad looking Peter scrambled through the portrait hole to find James alone on one of the many couches spread throughout the room, reading _The Quibbler_.

"Well?" Remus said, overcome with curiosity as he cast his beautifully organized bag aside and sat down across from James. "What is it?"

James seemed to be quite in practice of taking his time about things. First his eyes were unglued from the magazine, then he slowly lowered it and set it down on the cushion beside him, then he sat back and made himself comfortable in his seat before saying, "I've got a time turner."

He took it out of his pocket (rather gloatingly) and dangled it in front of Remus's eyes. Sirius and Peter sat down as Remus's eyes turned large and he reached a shaking hand out to touch the hourglass swaying from his friend's hand.

"So..." Sirius said, sitting back beside James and stretching his legs out onto the couch across from him. "Past or future?"

James smiled and pocketed the hourglass again, saying, "Future for sure."

Remus frowned, "I'm not sure--"

"Ah, don't be such a boring brute, Moony." James said, waving his hand as if swatting a fly in front of his face. "What's the point of having a time turner if we aren't going to do anything with it--though I'm sure we could sell it..."

"What's the fun of that?" Sirius said smugly. "We have to use it! How're we ever going to know what the future's like if we don't find out for ourselves?"

Remus grinned wryly. "You know, Padfoot, at times you can be pretty clever, but sometimes your head just seems to have shut down. Why don't we WAIT for the future?"

"How boring is that?" James said happily, "We have a _time turner!_ We can see if they've got a remedy for werewolf bites in the future and bring some back!" He cleared his throat and glanced around before saying, "Of course, that _would _difficult the situation that we have now a bit--"

"Come on, Moony." Sirius interrupted, "What're you going to do? Are you going to tell a teacher on us? Or give us detention?--" At this statement James clapped his hand to his mouth with mock surprise, "--Or are you going to come with us and see the FUTURE--"

"And it's many wonders..." James said laughingly.

Remus was silent for a minute, before he smiled slightly and said, "Fine. If getting rid of the curse that makes me Moony is the result of our little expedition, then I'm all for it."

James chortled as he said, "Don't use big words, Moony, Wormtail's already confused." He pointed at Peter's dull face and laughed.

"Now all we need to do is find out how this works." Sirius said, smiling.

James caught the hint and pulled the hourglass out of his pocket.

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	3. Five Turns

Alright...so I've been getting confused lately. I almost put the second chapter of The Time Turner on that story that I can't think of a name for....Maybe I should start putting the title of a story before whatever chapter that I'm writing....are you confused yet? Hehe. I hope you like this one, cause so far it's my favorite story....  
  
Ahh, yes, and I almost forgot. Thank you Ness, for reviewing, and I'm sorry about the James and Sirius thing, but after reading the fifth book...I can't help but think of them like that...but don't worry! They get nicer throughout the story  
  
Disclaimer: All (or most) of the characters and ideas in this story do not belong to me, but to Miss Rowling, and I am in no way trying to steal them.

The Time Turner 

Chapter Three: Five Turns 

James caught the hint and pulled the hourglass out of his pocket, grinning as he did. 

"So," He said, "What now?" 

Sirius bit his lip, obviously thinking, and muttered, "How about going back...uhm...five hours, or something like that...we can see what ole Snivellus was doing this morning when he was supposed to be in Charms with us--" He snorted, "I'll bet twenty galleons that he was whining in an empty classroom about what we did to his cauldron in potions yesterday..." 

James smiled and looked fondly at his hourglass yet again. "Five hours? Does that mean five turns?" James asked abruptly. 

Sirius's face lit up. "So we're doing it then? We're going back to this morning?" 

"I guess, but is that right? Five turns?" 

"I don't know! Just turn it!" Remus pitched in quickly, "I think we all need to be touching it--" 

"Duh." Sirius said somewhat critically, and they all took hold of the hourglass's chain. 

James waited until Peter had finally gotten a good enough grip on the chain (his knuckles were white) and turned the hourglass five times. 


	4. Misplaced Anger

Disclaimer: Most of the characters and ideas in The Time Turner do not belong to me, but to J.K. Rowling, and I am in no way trying to steal them from her, only borrow.  
  
The Time Turner 

Chapter Four: Misplaced Anger

James waited until Peter had finally gotten a good enough grip on the chain (his knuckles were white) and turned the hourglass five times. Severus Snape, the so called freak, the outsider, the slime ball--Snivellus- -was shooting flies down from the empty classroom on the third floor west wing of Hogwarts. 

His mind was overfilled with the insults that the marauders and their group of admirers shot at him with any chance that they had. He hated them. He wished they would all just die. But instead of acting upon his own wishes to make them real, just like they said, he was a coward, and all he was doing was sitting here with a scowl, alone, killing flies instead of that complete dog, James Potter. 

Severus Snape wasn't as bad as they'd labeled him to be. Or at least he believed so. He was just alone. Nobody liked him, because they all liked the Marauders and their ways. And their ways included hatred of Severus. 

A fly landed on Severus's knee and he pointed his wand at it, muttering a scorching spell. His eyes watered as the spell both burned the fly to a crisp and singed through his robes to blister his skin. 

He looked out the window, at the sky, and sadly hoped--like he always seemed to do at times like these, though his hopes were not high--that things would get better. Maybe he'd get his revenge on the Marauders, and most of all James Potter. Maybe he'd impress his parents enough to make them love him. But, as I've said, his hopes were not high. He knew that this would most likely not happen. In fact, the chances of these things happening were about as good as those of elephants flying with their wings. 

Severus laughed sourly at his own lack of humor. It rang acidly throughout the dusty desk filled room, bouncing off the stone walls and the dirty cathedral windows. He checked his watch as the echoes died away. His charms class was nearly over. Soon he would have to go to Defense Against the Dark Arts. What a useless class. But at least no Gryffindors would be in there with him. He could relax (which was something that this twitchy teenager had not done since before he was ten.). 

Severus was about to pick up his bag and start off toward Defense Against the Dark Arts, when he noticed a shadow on the floor coming from the sunlight-filled corridor. 

Hmm...that was sort of an insight into Severus Snape. Geeze...he sounds quite depressed doesn't he? Can anyone guess what the shadow on the floor is? Hahahaha! 


	5. Dealing with the Demon

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Here's some thanks to my reviewers *hands out baskets of thanks* . I'm going to try to make this chapter a bit longer than the others....*sniff* people have been complaining....sadness....

Chapter Five: Dealing with the Demon

Severus was about to pick up his bag and start off toward Defense Against the Dark Arts, when he noticed a shadow on the floor coming from the sunlight-filled corridor.

"Sooo..." James said lazily as he walked slowly into the empty classroom, closely followed by Sirius, Remus, and Peter, "How's life, old friend?" 

Severus scowled deeply and muttered darkly, "It just got worse."

"You know, that's funny, because I was just thinking the same thing." Sirius said lightly.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Severus asked as he looked around for his bag, one hand firmly around the handle of his wand in his pocket.

"We could ask you the same question." James chuckled. "But we won't."

"We wanted to see you." Sirius said with a smirk.

Severus opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment the bell rang, and he headed toward the door.

But James was in his way.

Severus pulled his wand out of his pocket so quickly that his hand was merely a blur before his wand was pointed straight at James' nose. Then he noticed that James's own wand was pointed at this own nose.

"You'll want to be a bit quicker next time, Snivellus." James said lazily.

Severus's eyes flashed dangerously and he whispered, "You too."

They both lowered their wands and glared at each other for a moment, until James said, "You ought to get to class, Snivellus."

He moved aside.

* * *

As Severus lumbered into to Defense Against the Dark Arts corridor he saw the marauders coming from the other way. His eyes narrowed, but it was only until after he'd settled down in his seat in class did he wonder how they'd gotten there before him, coming from the other way.

* * *

James smiled at his three friends, a dimple in his left cheek showed in the shade of the tree that they were sitting under. In the distance the past Sirius and James were sitting behind the greenhouses, talking and not paying attention to the four boys under the tree. 

"Well?" James said.

"Well, what?" Remus said reproachfully.

"Well isn't time travel great?"

Sirius smirked, "You're feeling a bit enthused aren't you, Prongs?"

Remus cut in before James could put in a laughing response, "I don't like bothering Snape like that."

"Of course you don't, angle," James said with a chuckle, "Only the most pure of spirits are able to resist the temptation of spoiling another day for--"

"I mean it, James." Remus said quietly, pulling up tufts of grass. He looked over at Peter. "Don't you think so, Peter?"

"What? Oh...eh..." He looked admirably at James and Sirius and said, "Nah! It's alright. Snibellus deserves the abuse anyway."

"It's 'Snivellus.'" James said through a grin.

"Yeah, I know." Peter said.

"Well...anyway...." Sirius said.

"What're we going to do now?" James asked.

"We could try again--"

"No." Remus said with as much authority that he could muster.

James cast a sideways glance at Sirius and said, "Fine, Moony. We won't." 

Remus smiled and looked up at the sky with tawny eyes.

"How far in time do you think a time turner could take you?" He said lazily.

"I don't know." James said quietly.

"D'you think it would take us to...years and years away?" 

James smiled. "Maybe."

Off in the distance they heard the bell ring, but none of them stood up. None of them said a thing for a while, as their minds traveled into the future where this hourglass could take them. In fact, they were so stuck in their own thoughts (A/N Marauders have brains to think with, too) that only a loud peal of laughter from a nearby group of sixth years brought them back to their senses.

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Cliffhangers are my favorite things in the world! Hahahahahahaha!


	6. Unknown Reasoning

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I'm sorry that I haven't really been updating lately, I've been really tired lately and I don't know why, though my mom says that I might be getting another growth spurt, which I really wouldn't like, because I'm too tall in my opinion anyway. And I'm sorry that this is another short chapter, but I think I stopped in the best place, cause this isn't too much of a cliffhanger....right? 

Chapter Six: Unknown Reasoning

Off in the distance they heard the bell ring, but none of them stood up. None of them said a thing for a while, as their minds traveled into the future where this hourglass could take them. In fact, they were so stuck in their own thoughts, that only a loud peal of laughter from a nearby group of sixth years brought them back to their senses.

Remus sat up and saw that they were all looking in their direction. He raised an eyebrow and tapped James, who was closest to him, on the shoulder. James sat up.

The sixth years were all girls and they were all giggling quietly. As James sat up another loud squeal of laughter burst forth and they crowded together, whispering excitedly.

James looked at Remus, then down at Peter, who was looking with interest at the throng of girls, then at Sirius, who seemed not to care, and was staring at a beetle that was crawling on a blade of grass close to him. 

James stood up, deliberately walking over to the group of girls, who squealed as he neared, and fought to get furthest away from him.

"What are you lot laughing about?" James said forcefully.

"You talk, Ella, I'm not saying a thing to him." Said one scowling blonde-headed girl who James recognized vaguely as being on the Ravenclaw quidditch team.

A few other girls pushed a dark haired girl closer to him and she blushed furiously, obviously embarrassed. And though James always enjoyed the way he could make any girl tongue-tied (except for Lily Evans, of course) it always made him irritated if he didn't get answers to a question immediately.

"Well?" James snapped as she stared at her feet.

Abruptly she looked up and narrowed her eyes. "Don't 'Well' me! If you want to find out why we're laughing, why don't you go off and find your girlfriend, or whatever she is to you, and ask her to relive your lack of self-control."

And she walked away, a little shakily, but still stubbornly, followed by her gaggle of friends. James raised an eyebrow. He didn't have a girlfriend. And furthermore, that was the strangest behavior that he'd ever encountered. He looked back at his friends, who were looking at him, shrugged, then began a trek up the green lawns toward the Hogwarts castle.

* * *

When James entered the Gryffindor common room twenty minutes later, it was for lack of anything better to do than anything else that made him head toward the boys' staircase to go to bed even though it was still daylight, but somebody cut him off.

"I can't _believe_ you, James." Said Vanessa through clenched teeth, leaning on the doorframe and looking him over with pure venom in her eyes.

James looked down at her uncertainly. "Look, Ness, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. If you're talking about how great you can't believe I look today, then you'll have to back off, because Moony would throw a fit if--"

"_No idea??_" She said insistently, her eyes flashing angrily as she moved in front of him as he tried to sidle around her. She forcefully poked him in the chest and said, "Evan's been fuming all day! It's a wonder she hasn't attacked anyone, the mood she's in! I never cared too much about her, Potter, but what you did today was really an all-time low, even for _you!_" And she stormed off, yelling back across the common room as she left through the portrait hole, "And I'll suppose Remus is down on the grounds, now, eh? Left him and the rest of your friends behind too, huh? Conceited slimeball!" 

James was left standing with a slightly open mouth. What in the world had just happened? Usually Remus's girlfriend was quite sweet. In fact, if James hadn't had his eyes set for Lily Evans since second year, he'd probably be her boyfriend rather than Moony. 

James looked up at the staircase and sighed. Then he groaned and turned back toward the cold fireplace and the jumble of red velvet chairs.


	7. Lily

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Chapter Seven: Lily

James looked up at the staircase and sighed. Then he groaned and turned back toward the cold fireplace and the jumble of red velvet chairs.

* * *

The next day Remus seemed to be disregarding James. Sure, he was cheerful enough, and he spoke animatedly enough to James, but James thought he heard a slight coolness in Remus's voice and was sure that Remus wasn't looking him in the eye when he asked what was wrong.

So James shrugged it off, instead setting his mind to schemes that he could pull of with the time turner. He told Sirius about them, and sometimes Peter, but he never really said anything to Remus because of his strange behavior, and because he was sure Remus wouldn't approve.

He still didn't know what all of the fuss yesterday had been about, and he didn't think about it until breakfast.

* * *

As the marauders entered the Great Hall, Severus looked up, his eyes gleaming with a sort of wicked amusement. He looked over at the Gryffindor table, where little miss perfect, Lily Evans, was sitting, reading a large transfiguration book, smiled, then looked back at the marauders and their leader.

"Hey, Potter!" Severus yelled as he passed. James paused and looked down at him with disgust.

"What?" He snarled.

Severus wasn't flaunted by James's rude reply. He only smiled nastily and said quietly, "Heard about your little show of affection to Evans yesterday. Getting a bit overly-lustful aren't we?" Then he laughed, and to his astonishment, the Slytherins closest to him laughed along with him, and he delighted ironically with his success at insulting his worst enemy.

James frowned down at Severus, his hazel eyes probing into Severus's own. "I don't know what you're talking about." He said dryly, and walked away.

* * *

Snape's comment about Lily Evans made James curious as to what was going on here. And he watched Evans constantly, looking for signs of her knowing what all of this was about. But short of getting any signs as he was hoping for, all James got was a quick, snappy attitude that left him irritated and otherwise a blank, closed look when they passed in corridors or when they saw each other around classes.

Finally James got so angry with kids skirting him in the corridors and glancing with quick hidden smiles at him and whispers following him that he stomped up to the Gryffindor common room at lunch time and ignored the pang of hunger that growled in his stomach.

As he was stomping toward the boys' staircase a voice sliced coolly into the large empty room, and for a minute James thought it was Vanessa again.

"You know, you're putting up quite a show, pretending that you don't know what anyone's talking about."

James turned, and saw Lily sitting in an armchair with a book propped open on her knees. Her round, almond shaped green eyes, as always, seemed to be taking all of the energy out of him so that he was nearly drowning in her stare. But her face was set, and not in any way the happy, captivating face that he often admired when she wasn't looking his way. She looked positively repugnant as she surveyed him, and she continued, "It would be quite funny if you weren't so stupid about it, really. And you're a great actor." Lily smiled sourly.

"But I _don't _know." James said faltering slightly as her eyes glittered treacherously.

This time she laughed. "Right." She said, and she picked up her book and buried herself in it again.

* * * 

In a half an hour, Sirius came lumbering into the seventh year boys' dormitory, his face all confusion and disarray.

James looked up.

"Well." Said Sirius. "I've found out what's...eh....been happening."

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*Dances around, singing about cliffhangers and thinking of how much fun it is to write this story*


	8. Gossipers

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Can't...write...other...story....

It just doesn't work! I don't know why! I almost forgot the whole story! I'm soooo frustrated! So I'll just continue on with this...I like it better anyway....

Chapter Eight: Gossipers

In a half an hour, Sirius came lumbering into the seventh year boys' dormitory, his face all confusion and disarray.

James looked up.

"Well." Said Sirius. "I've found out what's...eh....been happening."

James sat up, immediately alert, and said quietly, "What?"

Sirius leaned on the side of the door, his black hair falling around his eyes, but he didn't bother sweeping it away. He scowled and shoved his hands into his pockets, looking through his hair at the floor.

"Apparently you...eh..." He coughed, "...What I'm trying to say is...erm--"

"Spit it out!" James snapped.

Sirius nodded like a sullen child and finally looked up at James and said through gritted teeth, "Remus told me, Ness told him. But it doesn't make any sense. You were with us. It's all over the school, and I don't blame Remus for believing it's true. Even if it's not logical, half the school's claiming they were there to see it. It doesn't matter if there's different versions of the story, one thing is still the same: you kissed Evans, Prongs. I don't know how and when, but I do know that she didn't like it."

James stared, open-mouthed, for what seemed like a full five minutes. Sirius coughed and let his gaze travel just beyond James' face to rest on a point just above his shoulder. Finally, James stuttered, "But....but--but I couldn't've--couldn't've done that! I was--"

"With us, I know." Sirius said. He walked into the room and sat at a desk chair and fixed James with a stare. "But I think it might just be a rumor. You know how rumors travel around here. Someone says they saw a bird fly and the next day someone swears they saw a Hungarian Horntail land on the quidditch pitch. It might have just started with someone talking about you and Evans, and it just...eh...evolved....I guess....I tried to tell Remus that...but--"

"But what? How could he believe it if he knew exactly where I was?"

"I don't know. Ness is convinced that Moony's just trying to cover up for you...as a friend and all. And Moony said he's starting to think that it might've happened earlier yesterday or something....I don't know...."

They sat in silence for a moment, until there were footsteps and Remus himself came into the room, stopping at the sight of James. 

They stared at each other for a moment.

"I _swear_, I didn't touch Evans, Moony." James said, then he stood up and swept out into the corridor.

* * *

Severus was happy. He was _very_ happy. He didn't know why. 

There was a bubble inside of him that just kept getting bigger and bigger, until he couldn't keep the large menacing smile from his face while he watched students heading down the corridors, whispering rumors that would connect with the first news and become bigger and better....or worse and worse, at least for Potter. 

Severus could tell that James was in a bad mood when he trudged past him toward the library, his hands in his pockets and his head low, and that only made Severus' smile become more pronounced and for the first time since he could remember, Severus began humming.

* * *

James could never remember having a bad day...or at least not a wholly bad day. It might dip every once in a while to make a few things worse, but then it would curve and go uphill from there. James could handle problems. He handled them all quite pleasurably, knowing that he couldn't be brought down because he was better than that. He knew that he was conceited, but as long as it got him a nice, comfortable ride on the popularity list, he was perfectly fine with it (A/N I know I'm being sort of...eh...mean....to all of you James-lovers out there, but don't worry! He gets better!). But even he had to admit that the day so far hadn't been going too well, and he doubted that it would get any better.

James skipped charms, and for once he wasn't joined by Sirius. Slinking around corridors, tiptoeing past classrooms, and looking out for Filch, he made it to the library.

The librarian looked up when he entered, glaring at him with a beady eye.

"What are you doing in here, young man?" She snapped.

"I have permission, miss, I'm doing a bit of a long report on time travel. Do you recommend any books?"

So she grudgingly pulled some books covering all aspects of time travel off of a few dusty shelves, sniffing when James stacked them on a nearby table so casually, then strode away.

An idea had come to James earlier in history of magic, while he'd been ignoring Professor Binns, and now it was time to look into it. He sat down and opened the closest book.

__

eh....was that a cliffhanger? I was actually trying to turn it into a cliffhanger, but I think I've partly failed....


	9. Decisions

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I'm sooooo sorry about the short chapters (I'm not good about making them longer! I just can't do it! *breaks into sobs and runs away*). And somebody asked me a while ago if James and the others are already in the future. Nope. Not yet. Though I'm sure that soon they shall. I keep trying to make it be the time, like at one point in this chapter it was going to be the time, until I remembered that everyone else had to be with James and Sirius....I'm confusing myself. By the way, I believe I have been programmed to create cliffhangers at the end of every chapter. I'll keep trying to make end of the chapters be easier to finish with, okay? Thank you reviewers! 

Chapter 9: Decisions

An idea had come to James earlier in history of magic, while he'd been ignoring Professor Binns, and now it was time to look into it. He sat down and opened the closest book.

* * *

He'd finally found out what he was going to do. But he couldn't talk to Sirius until after charms....or maybe....

James decided to just skip the waiting part of the afternoon, and he pulled the time turner out of his pocket, glancing momentarily around the library to see if any other students or the librarian could see what he was doing. But no one would see. He was in a sort of enclosure between two shelves that almost visibly sagged with the effort of carrying hundreds of books, sitting at a small table. He could just barely see the library between the bottom of one shelf to the right of him and the top of a row of books. The wall was right in front of the table he was at and an empty space lay after the enclosing shelves before an empty canvass painting on the wall. 

He wished he had his invisibility cloak, but he didn't feel like wasting time going up to the dormitories when he would no longer be alone in ten minutes, and he couldn't go anywhere with anyone around. James looked once more at the time turner dangling from his hand and turned the hourglass.

He wouldn't be seen again today until after nightfall.

* * *

Sirius couldn't say that he was extremely worried about James, but he was at least a bit worried. It was the longest the he'd ever been in Hogwarts without seeing James around. Vaguely, he wondered if something had happened to him, but he doubted it. James had never been one for getting into dangerous situations without getting out of them again, perfectly healthy and ever-more arrogant.

So when he went up to bed at ten o'clock or so, getting too fed up with waiting for James, what Sirius didn't expect was for James's voice to awake him less than thirty seconds later.

"Wake up, darling! It's time for breakfast!"

Sirius opened an eye, then turned over onto his side, muttering as he did, "Damn the eggs and bacon, I'm going back to sleep." Then he groaned and cursed more colorfully as James whipped the sheets off of him.

"Come on!" James whined in a whisper, "We have to go and see what happened two days ago!"

Sirius rolled over onto his back. "I wait up half the night to see where you were, and when you come around, all you can say is, 'Come on, Sirius, buddy, old pal! Let's get going! Exciting adventures await!' Bah!" And he pulled the covers up and rolled away from James, burying his head in his pillow.

* * *

"Well, maybe he's sore at me for not turning up in Charms." James told himself as he lumbered down the corridors, making quite a bit of noise, pulling his invisibility cloak's hood up to cover his head as he heard footsteps nearing.

He scowled at the stench of dungbombs as Filch passed with what looked like a bag of them that must've weighed as much as a large dog. As soon as Filch had gone, James pulled the hood down. He didn't like wearing the invisibility cloak's hood. It made him feel claustrophobic.

"But if I do find out what this is all leading to, then I need Padfoot with me. I don't need Wormtail, but I don't care if he comes. But not Moony." He suddenly felt a small spurt of remorse toward one of his best friends and scowled at a painting of a small girl who was looking at his floating head with fear. "Nope. Not Moony. It looks as though ole Jamsie is out of the picture in Moony's books. The stupid angel. I'm always in trouble, so he immediately thinks the worst of me. Well fine. Then I'll just have to find out what _really_ happened, and convince ole Reemsie that I didn't do anything!"

* * *

But James didn't know when he would end up working out his troubles, so he coasted through breakfast the next day, Saturday, then went up to the quidditch pitch for training and went through that until noon, then trudged back down the Hogwarts lawns and through the Entrance Hall to the Great Hall and plopped down next to Sirius.

"How's it going?" Sirius asked glumly.

"Tiring." James said, cutting up a steak. "You?"

"Bad."

"Why?" 

"Ah, met up with Snape in the library, and he was all over your little--" He coughed, "--dilemma."

"Oh." James said.

"Well. Why don't we try to work this out...today."

James felt his stomach leap and he smiled, "Today?? When?" 

Sirius looked up at the enchanted ceiling, scanning the blue sky, and said through a fierce grin, "How about....now?"

__

*Whistles innocently*

Cliffhanger? What cliffhanger?


	10. Future Arrangements

****

Chapter Ten: Future Arrangements

Sirius looked up at the enchanted ceiling, scanning the blue sky, and said through a fierce grin, "How about....now?"

James immediately stood up and almost ran out of the Great Hall, his quidditch robes trailing behind him. He didn't care about them though, he wouldn't even have time to change out of them as soon as he and Sirius arrived up in the dormitory. They had to get the time turner, and maybe a few other things too.

James and Sirius arrived at Gryffindor Tower, out of breath and tired, but they still ran up the boys' staircase and down the hall toward the seventh years' dormitory.

Peter was there, reading a quidditch magazine. He looked up as James entered and fished under his bed for the time turner.

"What's happening?" Peter asked, sitting up on his own bed and watching James.

"We might need the map--" James said to Sirius, who went to his own bed and pulled the Marauder's Map from between his own mattresses.

"What about the invisibility cloak?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah." James said, "That too. We can't be seen--" 

"Hey! Earth to Prongs!" Peter said, waving his arms around, "What are you two doing?"

"Going to see what really happened with Lily and me." James said, pulling his invisibility cloak from under his bed and pushing the time turner that was around his neck into his shirt.

"I want to come!" Peter said excitedly.

"Fine." James said distractedly. The clasp on his invisibility cloak wasn't hooking, and it kept sliding off his shoulders. Finally, he pulled his wand out of his pocket and magically replaced the clasp, making a mental note while he did to get the real one fixed as soon as possible. "Alright. We'll have to go somewhere where we know that we won't be seen when we arrive--"

"Wait." Sirius suddenly pitched in. "How do we know that a time turner will take us that far back in time anyway? Aren't they only supposed to take you hours forward and backward? Don't you need a time portal for--"

"No." James cut him off, "I was reading up on it yesterday during charms. Time turners can take you back hours and days, but not years. That's where you need a portal."

"Thanks for telling me." Sirius said sarcastically, then glued his mind on the other problem at hand. "What about a closet or something? We could go from there."

"I don't know." James said. They all left the dormitory and were now walking down the stairs to the common room. "What if someone's in a closet when we arrive? I really wouldn't want to end up on a couple who're snogging in a closet or something--"

"I don't think it would be such a hot idea if we went to the Shrieking Shack in the middle of the morning...or the Forest." Sirius said, "We might look for an empty classroom."

"We could go to that one we found Snape in the other day--" Peter piped up.

"No, he might want to go in there again." James said.

"Well, what about that room we found in the dungeons two years ago? The one right off of the potions classroom..."

James smiled. "Yeah. Besides. Who would want to go down there voluntarily?"

"So it's decided?" Peter asked happily, bouncing on his chubby little feet, "Is Remus coming?"

"Coming where?" Remus said from behind them.

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(A/N I could be mean right now, and turn this bit into the end of this chapter, but I just remembered my promise that I would try not to make this chapter a cliffhanger *sighs* I guess I have to go on....)

James stopped in his tracks, and turned around.

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(A/N Aaaaaaagh! I could stop it here too! Fine! I'll go on! But after this one cliffhanger-less chapter, I'm not going to work on doing this anymore....unless there's some great amount of people who start complaining or something, I mean more than now...^_^)

"What?" He said coldly.

Then he saw who was with Remus. 

Ness, and Lily.

__

(A/N No more pointing out the places where I could stop it and make it a cliffhanger, happy?)

James' eyes widened, and he muttered, "What's going on?"

Remus immediately spoke, making sure that he immediately got James' attention, so that he wouldn't leave. At least not yet. 

"I wanted to work this out, though I guess I needn't have. I've talked to Lily 

and--"

Lily interrupted, "And I _was_ there, Potter. Are you trying to fool yourself by using this stupid little time turner and going back in time? You know what happened, so accept it. Besides. If you get caught--"

James cut her off, with a look of disgust on his face, "I didn't kiss you, Evans, so stop thinking up these warped lies. Remus, maybe you should come with us, and I can prove that I'm not lying. Of course Ness isn't going to come, because she doesn't believe me and I doubt she would even if I showed her--" At this point Ness nearly spoke up, but James kept speaking, "And I don't think Evans should come either, because her pretty face might not be able to handle such a thing as time travel--"

"I could come if I wanted to, Potter!" Lily snapped, "But I don't particularly care about what's going to happen in the past. I already saw it."

"Fine." James said, and he went out through the portrait hole. Sirius followed him, along with an eager Peter. Remus looked at Ness and Lily, and gestured for them to come with him as he followed, too. Ness followed with him.

Lily was left alone for a minute, trying to keep herself from following the five, but her curiosity and confusion finally got the best of her, and she stumbled after the Marauders and Vanessa swiftly.

__

Alright, one note here. I know that that was a cliffhanger, but if I go on then I'm going to have to make this chapter much, much longer than it should be. So I'll just write another chapter right after this, and I'll post them both at the same time. Good?


	11. Boring Chapter

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Sorry about the title, but I'm just telling the truth. I can't wait until the next chapter!!! yaaaaaay! because even if it is short (I'm not sure about that yet, I haven't written it) it shall be the best of all!!!! (I think)

Chapter Eleven: Boring chapter

Lily was left alone for a minute, trying to keep herself from following the five, but her curiosity and confusion finally got the best of her, and she stumbled after the Marauders and Vanessa swiftly.

"Wait up!" Lily called to Vanessa, who stopped for a moment so that Lily could catch up.

"I thought you didn't want to go with them?" Ness said.

"I'm not sure if I want to come."

"So why don't you go back and decide before you start leaping up after us?" Ness said, rather rudely. She hadn't meant to speak like that, but Lily Evans had always been a bit of a nuisance to her, and at the moment she was getting annoying.

"I'm coming." Lily said with a note of finality in her voice.

"Fine." Ness sighed. She shook off her bad feelings and said, "So what was it like?"

"What was what like?" 

"Your kiss."

Lily looked wryly at Ness, who could've sworn that she saw Lily's mouth twitch, then Lily said, "It was the most putrid thing that I've ever tasted." Then she turned red and hurried ahead of the other girl.

Sirius slammed into the room. It was empty, as they'd expected. Tables were piled up upon each other. Chairs were stacked. Dust filled their noses as the marauders filed into the empty classroom, followed by Ness and Lily. James looked up at the extinguished torches on the walls and shivered slightly. This room must not have seemed very welcoming for anyone who'd spent an actual class hour in here.

"Alright." James said lightly. He pulled the time turner out of his pocket and held it out. Sirius immediately took hold of the chain, along with Peter.

Remus hesitated.

"You know what this is going to turn out like." Remus said.

"Yep." James replied, making sure that the invisibility cloak was clasped around his shoulders. The other marauders didn't seem to care in slight that James looked like a disembodied head floating in midair. Ness had already known about his cloak, so she wasn't surprised either. Lily hadn't expected anything other than an invisibility cloak, so she just stood there with her arms crossed and her slim eyebrows pressed together in a frown. James went on, "I know where I was, and I'm going to prove it, now get over here, Remus."

"Isn't time travel dangerous?" Lily muttered. James heard her.

"Of course it is, Evans, why do you think I'm so eager to try it out?" And he gave her a roguish smile that would have set any other girl's heart fluttering.

* * *

Two days after James Potter's incident with Lily Evans, Severus was sitting in the library, reading some random book that he'd pulled off of the nearest shelf. The librarian kept glancing up at him, suspiciously, as if he would be daring enough to touch her precious books in the wrong way. But he knew he wouldn't. 

Severus had noticed that no one was paying all that much attention to Potter's problems anymore. There was other gossip about. Sure, he'd gotten a bit of a laugh at Black, a while ago, but now it was over. All Severus wanted to do was go to sleep.

So he did. He got about a ten minute nap before the librarian woke him up with a sharp tap on the head, and he sloped out of the library, down the hallway, as unhappy as ever.

__

How boring was that? Geeze! Everyone at least has to admit that with the cliffhangers there's a bit of excitement. I kept trying to find a place to end this and make it NOT end as a cliffhanger.....*sighs* Cliffhangers all the way after this. Sorry. By the way. I'm fourteen and I am as of now an aunt! My brother's baby was born sometime around noon today, and it's a girl *cheers from the crowd* and they named it--her! I'm not going to get the hang of calling her a 'her' until she starts talking to me--Anozira. It's Arizona, backwards ^_^.


	12. Into the Future

****

Chapter Twelve: Into the Future

Severus had noticed that no one was paying all that much attention to Potter's problems anymore. There was other gossip about. Sure, he'd gotten a bit of a laugh at Black, a while ago, but now it was over. All Severus wanted to do was go to sleep.

So he did. He got about a ten minute nap before the librarian woke him up with a sharp tap on the head, and he sloped out of the library, down the hallway, as unhappy as ever.

Before heading back to the Slytherin common room, Severus went to the potions classroom to speak with the professor about some work that would be due in a week, and then he headed out.

As Severus headed down the corridor, toward the common room, he passed by a door and heard voices.

"Isn't time travel dangerous?"

* * *

"Fine." Lily said, folding her arms across her chest and scowling, "You go ahead and frolic off into the past like some dumb bink, just so you can see that I'm right, and you're wrong."

"Aye." James said, with mock concern, "I hope I don't get hurt, will you come with so you can make sure I don't?"

Lily lifted an eyebrow and said, "No, I won't. I honestly don't care if you go....a hundred years into the future instead of the past and get lost and never find a way back! I'd be _happy_ if that happened, I'll be hoping."

"Oh, you don't really mean that." James said mischievously, smiling slightly, "You'd go crazy if I didn't come back because you lo--"

"I don't, Potter. I don't even like you." Lily cut in seriously.

James turned to Remus, having just pretended that he hadn't heard Lily's last sentence, and said, "You're coming, right?"

"Yes." Remus said, stepping forward, taking hold of the chain as Sirius and Peter were already doing. He halfway turned to Ness and said, "Ness, are you--?"

"Nope, she can't come." James said loudly.

Remus turned to him. "Why not?"

"She has to make sure that Evans doesn't try to follow. And don't look at me like that, Evans, you know you were thinking about it. You're so curious that you can barely stand there looking so certain that you aren't coming along." James said. Lily turned red.

The door opened.

Severus walked in, looking extremely pleased at the marauders and the two girls who were all staring at him either with their mouths open or with wide eyes, or with both.

"Well, well, well." He said smoothly. His eyes darted from each of their faces to the next, then came to a rest on the time turner that was in James' fingers. "What a surprise." He didn't sound surprised at all, "James Potter and his little gang, holding...what is this?...a little...meeting, shall we say...and this time turner...isn't that against school policy? Tut, tut. And Miss Evans, the mudblood, she's here too....I do wonder if this is enough trouble to get your prefect badge taken away...and you too, Lupin..."

And he smiled at them all.

"Get out." James said forcefully, grinding his teeth, his eyes flashing. "Now."

"All ri--"

"No!" Vanessa said, grabbing hold of Severus' arm as he made to leave. "Don't you realize how much trouble you'd be in if somebody found out about this, James? You're not going anywhere, Snape, until I get a memory charm on you!"

"You're not putting any memory charm on me, wench!" Severus said, wrenching his arm from her grasp.

"Really, Snape!" Remus yelled, "Don't insult her--  
"I'll insult your little girlfriend all I want, Lupin. I'm leaving"

"No you're not." James said loudly.

Severus stopped and turned around. "Why not, _Potter_?" He said dangerously, his hand going toward the wand in his pocket, "What'll you do to stop me?"

"What do you think, Snivellus? I have a time turner. I can turn this and leave from here at any moment. One turn of this wonderful hourglass and off I go to make your life hell. Sound good? Or do you want to keep your mouth shut and go on with what you've got now?"

Severus' smile faded. For a moment he hesitated, and then he turned on his heel and headed for the door.

Vanessa watched as many things happened at once: James turned the hourglass twice, the rest of the marauders tightened their holds on the hourglass's chain, Lily Evans ran forward and took hold of the chain, and Severus Snape ran forward to take hold of it at the same time.

And then they were gone.

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	13. Sixteen and Passing

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Well....I think I've been dawdling a little too much. I should update now, don't you think? Many many many reviews......they make me happy ^_^ so I'm going to continue with the story now....dum dee dum dee dum....and I don't exactly know what I'm going to do with Vanessa....I guess I'll just find out, eh?

Er....one big note, and I hope everyone who reads this pays attention: THIS IS THE BIG CHAPTER WITH SPOILERS IN IT! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX AND YOU DON'T WANT THE STORY SPOILED FOR YOU, DO **NOT** READ ON!!!**  
**

Chapter Thirteen: Sixteen and Passing

Vanessa watched as many things happened at once: James turned the hourglass twice, the rest of the marauders tightened their holds on the hourglass's chain, Lily Evans ran forward and took hold of the chain, and Severus Snape ran forward to take hold of it at the same time.

And then they were gone.

* * *

Harry lay up in his bed, feeling the hours pass by but not tiring with them. They sagged and dwindled as they grew older, and as he lay through them he almost felt his insides sagging with them. His mind was not tired out, as his body was, but roaming...ever roaming....

Professor Dumbledore had sent him a letter only the day before. Harry was to be sent to Hogwarts for the summer, as it was the safest place for him to be, since Dumbledore lived there and recently the Order of the Phoenix had been meeting there. Grimmauld Place had shut itself up against everyone from the Order. Since Sirius, its last remaining heir and owner, had died it no longer lay open and welcome (or at least open).

Sirius.....

Dumbledore had written that Harry would only be staying at Hogwarts for a few days, then he would be sent to the Burrow, but while he was at Hogwarts with Dumbledore he was to be trained.

For what? was Harry's only question.

But he knew what. So he need not ask.

A guard was going to be sent to collect him. He couldn't help but use that word, even in his own mind. Collect. It wasn't as if he had any say in all of this. They were all just shuffling him along, hoping that no problems came along the way.

But Harry knew that he shouldn't think that way, so instead he shook his head and looked over at the clock by his bed and received a slight jolt in his stomach. He had been sixteen years old for almost two hours now.

He yawned.

Sure, he might never get much of birthday presents, but it was still nice to be a bit older. 

Then there was a searing pain in his head, across the scar in the middle of his forehead, and a surge of anger in the pit of his stomach, the type of sick, cruel anger that leaves a person feeling resentful and annoyed, and it was gone as quickly as it had come. He swallowed, reminded abruptly of the person who's emotions he was so easily and unwillingly channeling.

* * *

The next morning Harry received birthday presents from Ron, Hermione, and Dobby the house-elf. He smiled at the pair of socks that the ugly little elf had probably hand-knitted himself for him and went down to breakfast in a slightly better mood than what he waken up with.

"Good morning." He said cheerfully as he sat down.

Dudley, who was looking groggy and annoyed glanced up with a scowl and went back to reading a kick-boxing magazine while Vernon Dursley growled a short disapproval of the state of his nephew's hair. 

"I'm leaving tomorrow." Harry said, while the others were silent.

His Aunt Petunia, who had just stepped into the room with a pan full of bacon stopped in her tracks. His Uncle Vernon looked up, and while his wife stood silently behind him, he asked "How?"

"Somebody's coming for me."

And that was that. Harry finished his orange juice and bacon then went back up to his room to pack.

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Boring boring boring. What a boring chapter. But I do have something for you reviewers to be interested in!

Okay, add two capitals, four commas, and two periods to make this line make sense:

that that is is that that is not is not

Have fun! I'll update again soon!

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	14. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

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Uh.... It's 6:36 in the morning and I was just finishing up this chapter, since I've finally (almost) finished with all of my absent work and I'm allowed to use the computer again. Dum dee dum dee dum.... (*Whistles to herself*) Oh! Oh, yeah, on with the chapter!

By the way, that riddle that I put up was answered correctly by a few of my reviewers (*gives out cookies*) and the answer was:

That, that is, is. That, that is not, is not.

And there are still spoilers, and I'm afraid that there will be for the rest of the story, most likely. Sorry. *Chuckles evilly*

****

Chapter Fourteen: Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

"Somebody's coming for me."

And that was that. Harry finished his orange juice and bacon then went back up to his room to pack.

* * *

To think. Harry hadn't thought this would be hard.

He didn't usually think that way, it was just that, what with what Dumbledore had told him about himself at the end of June he'd thought that things, magic, _should_ be easier. Wasn't he supposed to be just as powerful as the most powerful wizard in the world? And yet, now, months after he had initially started, Harry was still having trouble even repelling off the _legilimens_ charm.

Now it might be a bit easier, but Harry didn't think it was because he was actually making any progress. More like the fact that it was Dumbledore that was teaching him, and not Snape. At least the sight of Harry didn't make Dumbledore's mouth curl in a sneer and his eyes flash with promised future detentions. On the contrary, the sight of Harry to Dumbledore always seemed to make something of two things: either a sad despair deep set in his eyes, or a light twinkle of laughter and pride.

It didn't really matter which. Every time Harry saw Dumbledore all he felt was guilt at not being able to live up to the place that Dumbledore seemed to think he could so easily fill.

Dumbledore told Harry one night that the next day he would be going to the burrow. Remus Lupin was staying there and Harry would be getting training from him.

"Why?" Harry interrupted, frustrated as he was, the thought of still more of 'training' was enough to set off his nerves, "Why can't I just take a break for a while?"

He waited while Dumbledore's clear blue eyes stared into his own and for an unbelieving moment he thought that Dumbledore was going to hit him, that was how angry he looked, for a moment, but then it was gone and he sighed, saying, "Fine, Harry. Fine."

* * *

"Three extendable ears, one fake wand, and a portable swamp!" George said, loudly and happily toward the back room where Harry, Ron, and Fred were already laden down with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes merchandise.

"Slow down, master! We aren't your slaves!" Fred said as they emerged and began setting oddly shaped packages on the counter in front of the gaggle of customers (most of them Hogwarts students) and started handing them out and exchanging money. A few people were staring at Harry, which he found not remotely annoying, since they'd been doing so all day, and they continued to do so as he departed into the back room again. 

"Ah, business, business." Fred said, smirking, "We're coming up with a few new pastries and candies and things. It'll put Zonko's out of business, it will." 

"Of course it will." Ron said as he pulled down a few fireworks from a shelf that was almost empty, "but I heard the owner of Floorish and Blotts saying earlier today that _he_ has nothing to worry about. You guys don't sell books."

"Well maybe we ought to, little brother, just so we can prove them wrong." Fred laughed. 

"Speaking of books, don't you two need some new books?" Hermione said from the doorway, Ginny and Luna Lovegood flanking her.

"Yes." Harry sighed.

"I _can't _believe that you're still taking potions." Ron said loudly, yet again voicing his bad omens on Harry's decision to do so. "I tell you, you should've made sure that you failed your O.W.L. so that you wouldn't have a chance of taking it at all.

"McGonagall told me last year that if I really want to be an auror I'd have to take potions. And Snape can't kick me out...yet...because I actually _did_ pass the O.W.L."

"Unlike _somebody_ we know." Hermione said pointedly.

"Hey, I knew I wasn't going to get good marks in the first place. And what's the point of trying if I know I'm not going to carry on with it?"

"Let's think," Replied Hermione mockingly, "Uh...I don't know...a _job_!"

"Who says I'm going to need potions for the job that _I want_?" Ron retorted, "Besides, if worse comes to worse, I can always get a job with my dear brothers--right Fred?"

Fred didn't respond, but broke into a fit of coughs and stumbled hurriedly out of the room.

"I think that means a no, Ron" Hermione said smugly, and everyone but Luna laughed.

The air had certainly been much easier since Harry's return to The Burrow. Harry had a feeling that everyone in the Weasley household was being exceptionally positive for his own sake, so he worked to make sure that their efforts weren't made for nothing. His spirits were higher than they had been and Harry was sure that going back to Hogwarts wouldn't be nearly as bad as he had thought.


	15. Arguments

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Geeze, you people are soooooo impatient! I might as well post up the next 50 chapters right now and see what you like of them! I have to think about these things, you know! I don't have all the story written out in my brain! I have to figure out the plot so it can be good! 

To one of my *cough* most impatient reviewers, you will find out what happened to James and the rest of them, but you must be PATIENT!!!!

****

Chapter Fifteen: Arguments

The air had certainly been much easier since Harry's return to The Burrow. Harry had a feeling that everyone in the Weasley household was being exceptionally positive for his own sake, so he worked to make sure that their efforts weren't made for nothing. His spirits were higher than they had been and Harry was sure that going back to Hogwarts wouldn't be nearly as bad as he had thought.

* * *

"Alright, I've had enough!" Hermione yelled at Harry and Ron, who were standing in front of a pile of charred exploding snap cards that had just exploded--rather loudly--both of them looking shocked either at the sudden explosion or at the seething expression on Hermione's face, "You two have been playing around all afternoon, making so much noise that I can't keep my head on strait much less work! I don't know about you two, but _I_ want to pass my N.E.W.T.s so either get to work or get out!!"

They stared, dumbfounded, at her for a moment before Ron said, "We don't have N.E.W.T.s until next year, Hermione, and if you want to work why don't you get moving down to the library." Then he turned back to his cards and began shuffling them into a pile.

Hermione huffed twice then poured her books into her bag and stomped out of the common room.

Ron looked at Harry once she'd gone.

"See what I mean? She loves me, she hates me. I'm the love of her life, then she turns around telling me she'd rather be dating a jackass. How am I supposed to ask the girl to marry me if every time I get up the nerve she says she doesn't want to deal with me and runs off to the library?" He pulled the ring that he'd been carrying with him for weeks out of his pocket, letting the light from the fire shine onto the gold band and its three inset diamonds.

Harry looked at the ring in his best friend's hand and swallowed his real thoughts on the situation, instead saying, "I don't know. Maybe she just keeps having bad days."

"Yeah. The Gods are trying to send me a sign by making every day I decide to ask one of those days when I've turned into an ogre to my sweet love. Ha." And he groaned and put his head into his hands, rubbing his eyes. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

As he headed toward the boys' staircase he turned back with a smile, "We're going to win this quidditch season for sure, with you back on the team, Potter!"

Harry managed to smile back and Ron headed up toward the dormitory, yawning.

Harry looked at his bag which was stationed expectantly by a table and decided against doing his homework tonight, because his mind wasn't really on the goblin riot that Professor Binns had been lecturing to the class about that day (his mind hadn't been on the goblin riot during the lecture either), and instead plopped into a chair in front of the fire, staring into it with a raw intensity that someone had muttered behind him on a bus one day was scary. Harry didn't really doubt that, because the sort of unhappy, unhealthy, untidy look and aura that he gave off never really appealed to anyone. It was too alien. Especially the unhappiness. 

It was not the type of unhappiness that came when one was disappointed or gloomy. It did not come and go as regular sadness did. It was always there. Intense and painful, showing from his quiet melancholy face even if he did not know so. A person, a stranger, looking at this dark, quiet boy knew, or felt--whichever--instantly that there was a miserable agony that ate at him day and night and Harry, though he did not wish for it, knew that what these people felt was pity.

But Harry knew that he shouldn't feel unhappy. So many people were working to make him happy. And now nobody believed him crazy, now he was once again "The Boy Who Lived", he still had his friends and Severus Snape had decided to ignore him rather than actually express his hatred of the boy. Sitting there, Harry let his mind wander away from his own self pity which could be so horrible towards Ron's problem at hand.

He'd decided to marry Hermione. Harry had never even knew that the two were dating. But anyway, he ultimately still thought it was ridiculous. They were only sixteen, and Ron, with not a galleon to call his own (Harry had no clue where he'd gotten the money for the ring), wanted to ask Hermione to marry him?

The two bickered day and night. Any marriage that they had would be a ferocious battle from wedding day until death. Ron seemed to think otherwise. That or he didn't mind the arguments. 

And every time Ron brought up the subject with Harry everything that he had had on the tip of his tongue since got ready to come out, but he forced himself to smile, nod, and agree with whatever it was his freckle-faced friend had to say. He wasn't sure how long he could keep his real opinions on the issue quiet.

There was a flicker in the fire and an oddly shaped log was illuminated, dragging the memory of Sirius up to the front of Harry's mind. Harry remembered discussing small little problems with Sirius, who would often come to talk to him through the fire, problems that disappeared and were forgotten as easily as they had come. Sirius had been disappointed when he'd come to the conclusion that Harry wasn't as much like his best friend as he had thought, and he had said so. Harry remembered racking his brain thinking about that. But he didn't care much anymore. He wasn't much like his father, and now he thought that to be a good thing. He didn't like the thought that everyone imagined him to be some mirror imagine of James Potter, because after seeing what the man was really like the notion seemed impossible as well as ugly. 

* * *

It was twenty minutes later, while Harry was walking down around the dungeons, kicking at the caked dust on the floor, that he noticed a light.

It was coming from under a door, a small, flickering light that most people wouldn't even notice unless they were paying attention. Harry thought it looked like candle-light. Most likely someone had been in there earlier and just forgotten to put out the light. Harry didn't really care if that wasn't so.

At least he didn't care before he heard voices.

Pulling his invisibility cloak more tightly around him, Harry edged closer to the door to hear the voices better. They seemed to be arguing...

"...not staying, Potter! This has to do with me too--" Yelled a girl's muffled voice.

"It's not my fault you came along! You're staying here." Replied a slightly familiar boy's voice.

"We have to deal with _him_ first." Another boy's voice cut in.

There was silence for a moment, before Harry heard a door opening and closing, and saw the Potions Master come out of his office next to the door where Harry was standing. He was arguing in much louder tones than the ones from the room at hand with the caretaker, Mr. Filch, while Mrs. Norris slinked around their legs. 

Mrs. Norris stopped for a moment and her lamp like eyes swerved in Harry's direction, and Harry, having had experience with matters having to do with Filch's cat, hurried away down the other end of the corridor. He didn't remember the arguing voices until early the next morning, and when he went to the room it was empty and the candle was gone.

__

(author's note: I know that somebody's going to ask about this so I'll just tell you now. Yes, the Snape that Harry saw was the older one, so nobody ask!)


	16. Waiting

__

I don't like writing in Harry's perspective, so anything more that I write will most likely only be in James', Snape's, or maybe Lily's perspective...

I'm not exactly focused at the moment, so don't expect a stunning new chapter....Then again, my unfocused mind might end up cooking up a masterpiece...who knows...^_^

Chapter Sixteen: Waiting

Mrs. Norris stopped for a moment and her lamp like eyes swerved in Harry's direction, and Harry, having had experience with matters having to do with Filch's cat, hurried away down the other end of the corridor. He didn't remember the arguing voices until early the next morning, and when he went to the room it was empty and the candle was gone.

* * *

James peered around the corner and looked for any sign of movement from the darkness beyond. The corridor was completely void of any movement, so he led the way onwards towards Gryffindor tower.

It felt very strange to travel through time. It had felt as if he were reliving those days that he were going back through, because it certainly seemed as if it had taken that long to go through them. Shapes and voices had passed, flickering, so that he could barely catch glimpses or hear their voices catching in his ear. And now that they'd arrived it felt stranger still. Everything felt different. There was a feeling laying over them all, even though they did not discuss it, that they weren't in the right place, that they weren't supposed to be here and that they must go, now.

Of course, eventually, they all over passed the thought, believing that this must be some part of time travel. And the marauders, though they'd already traveled into a past time and already knew what if felt like, didn't wonder that this time it felt different.

Once they heard voices and retreated into the dark shadows while two men passed, arguing insistently about something that was completely incomprehensible due to the fact that they were both nearly yelling, and at the same time. Though none of them recognized the two men, they didn't wonder at this fact. So insistent were they all upon reaching a place to hide to wait for the day to come.

They had argued about it for a while. And they'd finally settled on the possibility that they'd come into the right time too early, and so would have to wait until the time came to see "the kiss". Or rather, James had come to settle at this. He hadn't given anyone else to give their own opinions on the matter. 

Then there had been the argument over the arrival of Lily and Snape. The two people whom James had least of all wished to come along. And _Snape_ of all people, still thought he had some sort of blackmailer's power over them all. There he'd stood, smirking like he was smarter than them all, standing with his arms crossed over his chest like, to James' mind, some sort of damned _god_ like he owned the place!

And James had been right. Lily _had_ wanted to come along, and she'd done just so. But even if she'd come along, he'd still put up quite a good fight, in his own opinion, to keep her from coming any further with them. Besides, if she was the right one and James had just happened to be sleepwalking when he'd kissed her then all she would do when he saw her proof would be to smirk and laugh. 

And then there was _Snape._

James hated him. He'd never actually understood why. Maybe it was just his attitude. The way he slouched around everywhere and smirked like he did when he was victorious, or the way his nose twitched and James could tell he was furious....Everything about the kid made James quiver with suppressed anger. Even his _hair_, the way it hang around, greasy and unkempt (though James didn't have much say in matters of untidiness), his eyes, the way they darted around, calculating, dangerous, and his nose, how it curved more like an eagle's beak than like a nose...

But why did James think so much about Snape? What concern of Snape's belonged to James?

James shook it all off, just like he could always do, and kept walking. A thought suddenly came to him that was so obvious that he stopped abruptly and nearly pounded his head into the wall.

"What?" Sirius whispered behind him.

"We can't go up to Gryffindor tower." James muttered, still seething at himself.

"Why?" Lily muttered angrily.

James turned around. "Because we're all sleeping up there."

"I tried to tell you, James." Remus said, shrugging.

"So...." James continued, "Where should we stay for the night?" 

"Oh...we can just go back to the room that we arrived in." Remus said.

So they trudged back to the room where they'd arrived in, stopping momentarily to wait for a couple of arguing teachers to pass. When they arrived James looked around and said, "Well, I guess we're sleeping here, right? So I'll just..." He pulled out his wand and gave it a little flick and a few puffy sleeping bags appeared and fell to the floor with a soft _flump_. "Alright!" James said, proud of his sleeping bags, "Snapey, my boy, you can sleep over there, at the other end of the room, and Lily, you can sleep right here next to me--" 

"Frankly, Potter, I'd rather sleep next to a mule than you. It smells better." Lily said, and sat down on the nearest sleeping bag, pointing to one further away from her. Snape was already sitting down on the sleeping bag that James had pointed to. Sirius smirked at James while he sat on a sleeping bag close to him and pulled out a muggle's deck of cards and began shuffling them experimentally. 

"Anyone up for a game of poker?" Sirius asked cheerfully, but shrugged as everyone else ignored him but Peter and put them away, blowing out the light as he burrowed into his sleeping bag.

__

Hmm....Boring...I don't know what I was talking about during that last bit. Whatever. Today, I almost got into a fight with someone.....She lies a lot, and my friends and I are just getting fed up with it....Ever meet anyone like that? 

__


	17. James?

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Here's a present for the holidays! ^_^  
  
Chapter Seventeen: James?  
  
"Anyone up for a game of poker?" Sirius asked cheerfully, but shrugged as everyone else ignored him but Peter and put them away, blowing out the light as he burrowed into his sleeping bag.  
* * *  
  
It felt strange to follow, because James was usually the one to lead. But for once he'd found himself set in line behind Sirius, with Remus and Peter following him. At least one thing hadn't changed about their formation. As usual, Peter was the last.  
They hurried through the corridors, heading for Gryffindor tower, where they planned on staying until the time came to see what happened. They decided that "the kiss" had taken place around noon. All they would have to do would be to follow Lily to the place since would know where it happened.  
It was during the first class of the day, so the only people to be wary of were a few straggling students and a few teachers, who seemed to have no reason to be teaching, whom they easily dodged.  
Snape had somehow managed to be able to come along. Perhaps it was Remus's kindness that had somehow stumped James's hatred of the slimeball. Anyway it didn't much matter anymore, because here Snape was, and here they were. Nothing more to be said. * * *  
They followed a sixth- or seventh-year girl through the portrait hole. It was odd, because she seemed to be avoiding their eyes, which didn't much happen for the marauders, but it wasn't impossible, so they thought nothing of the strange behavior and headed in.  
"Lavender!" A girl said, rushing to the first girl and walking back out of the portrait hole with her, deepening by the second in some unknown conversation. James watched them leave, then turned back toward the rest of the common room. No one was there.  
"So this is your common room?" Snape said from behind him, his silky voice cutting through the air and making the room a lot less comfortable.  
James looked back at Snape, smirking, and muttered, "I'm sure you like it, you slimy piece of sh-"  
"Is somebody fighting?" Remus cut in, more because he didn't want James to start a fight than because of the slight noise coming from the staircase leading to the boys' dormitories.  
James nearly didn't listen, but remembered what they were doing, and the risks they were taking before he got out of hand. "One more word." James mumbled at Snape, before heading up the staircase towards the voices.  
It was coming from the sixth-years' dormitory. James stepped lightly toward the open door and leaned in, putting only his head around the door. A tall, gangly, red-haired and freckled kid was towering over a bushy, browned-haired girl, yelling loudly, but obviously losing the battle of wits between the two. They were fighting about.something, but that something was quite unintelligible with so much yelling between the two at the same time.  
This row, though ridiculous, was being overseen by..  
James. 


	18. Names

Bored....bored...bored...but I did write this chappie in a notebook on the way back from my dad's house yesterday, so I hope u like it. Now is the time! Harry and James finally meet! Ah, yes, one more thing. Thanks to all my reviewers, and I must say that I do try to make longer chapters, but then I find perfect spots to leave cliffies, so sorry about that. And about some people's requests for more description. I don't put too much description in my writing because of my own experiences. Too much description sidetracks people's minds to things other than the story at hand. Short, sweet, and easy to understand is my way of writing, and I apologize if you don't like it. I might try to be more descriptive, or I might not. I'm not forcing anyone to read this. But still, thank you to all my reviewers, because I really do appreciate the reviews, and, yes, even the ones that tell me how much they despise my writing style^_^  
  
Chapter Eighteen: Names  
  
This row, though ridiculous, was being overseen by...  
James.  
* * *  
But he was different. It wasn't really the way he looked that was different (although his eyes and nose were different), it was something else that really couldn't be found with searching eyes.  
James was impulsive, so neither Sirius nor Remus were surprised when he moved to enter the room. It took both of them to keep James from doing as he wished, and then Remus's steadying voice to subdue him, "James, don't go in there. You shouldn't be seeing yourself. That's dangerous."  
"But I don't even remember that! And he's not me!"  
Remus stopped.  
"What do you mean, "he's not you"? Of course he is"  
"Maybe we went a few days into the future-instead of the past." Sirius suggested.  
"No, we didn't." James insisted, stopping momentarily due to the noise of something hitting the wall in the other room. When the boy and girl had continued arguing he went on, "Something has really gone wrong, I'm telling you! We-"  
"For once you don't seem to have everything under control, Potter. How splendid." Snape said, smirking behind Peter.  
"Shut it, shithead." James snarled.  
Snape smiled as Remus directed James's attention back to him, "What are you talking about?"  
"We must've done something wrong, because whoever that kid is in there, he's not me!"  
"But how do you know?" Lily asked.  
"His eyes are different, and his nose is shorter."  
"But what could've happened-" Remus began, until the girl's voice in the room arose to a level that couldn't be ignored-  
"No, Ron! I guess I'm not getting the point! I'm NOT MARRYING YOU!"  
Fuming, the girl stormed out and ran head-on into Sirius.  
"Excuse me-" She muttered, before she saw him, and stopped, staring.  
"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Sirius said acidly.  
His words shook her out of her stupor. She touched his sleeve as if testing if he were real.  
"Sirius!" She squeaked, and threw herself onto him, kissing his cheeks in between muffled speech- "We thought you were dead-" Kiss. "-and Harry was devastated-" Kiss. "-and oh!-" Kiss. "-You're younger!- " Kiss, kiss. "-but you're here and Harry-Oh!" She let go of him; her face was streaked with tears, "Harry!" She rushed back into the room.  
"Uh...Is there something you're not telling us, Sirius?" James asked, laughing quietly.  
Sirius felt his face heat up as the girl rushed back, dragging the James-ish boy behind her.  
"Look!" She said.  
The kid stared. So did they. The likenesses between him and James were too obvious to ignore.  
"Sirius." He said in a quiet voice. As his eyes roved over each person in the group he named them, "Lupin. Wormtail. Lily. Snape...James." There was a pause.  
"How do you know our names?" Asked Lily.  
Another pause.  
"Because you and James are-" He began, but the last words were muffled by the girl's hand which was set over his mouth.  
"Uh..." The red-haired boy had appeared from within the room.  
The girl let go of the boy's mouth promptly and said, "Harry...er..." Suddenly she was uncomfortable, "...uhm...maybe we should...wait until...."  
"Dumbledore?" He asked.  
She nodded.  
He looked at the group of people before him and said, "Come on, then." 


	19. What Happens in the future

Well, I've found out that my new computer makes it so that there aren't spaces between each paragraph in chapters, nothing is in italics, and nothing is bolded. But in a way that first bit is a good thing. Perhaps the fact that my chapters don't look long anymore unless I really do make them long will encourage me to actually make longer chapters. Confused yet? I thought so.  
  
CHAPTER NINETEEN: WHAT HAPPENS IN THE FUTURE  
  
"Dumbledore?" He asked.  
She nodded.  
He looked at the group of people before him and said, "Come on, then."  
* * *  
Still extremely confused, they followed the boy out of Gryffindor Tower and through a set of corridors until they reached a doorway. The girl and the red-haired boy had come along and were following quietly. The James- ish boy was obviously the leader of the group.  
While they waited for somebody to answer to the James-ish boy's knock, the red-haired boy asked, "Why are we at McGonagall's?"  
"I forgot the password into Dumbledore's office."  
"Just a moment, just a moment..." Somebody was saying from within the room, and James wondered if this McGonagall was the same one that he knew, likewise with Dumbledore. The door opened and a stern, old woman looked out.  
"Really, Potter!" She said, although she wasn't looking at James, "This reminds me a bit too much of last year, if you know what I mean. Have you-" She saw the other people in the corridor and stopped in mid-sentence. "I...What...Come...Come in..." And she stepped aside to let them through.  
Shutting the door behind her, she stepped into the office again and said, "What's going on, Harry?"  
So that was the James-ish boy's name. He suddenly looked uncomfortable as he muttered, "I don't know. I was thinking that maybe Dumbledore would know..."  
"And you thought I might help you out, eh, Potter?"  
"Yes." He sighed.  
"Very well."  
* * *  
Ten minutes later they were traveling up the spiral staircase toward Dumbledore's office. James knew this place, because he'd been sent up here, most often with Sirius, when his pursuits had gotten too far out of hand, to leave him in too much trouble to be dealt with by McGonagall. It was weird. Everything was somehow the same, but at the same time different. James wondered how the others were taking this.  
More than anyone else he wondered about Lily. He could tell, Harry's eyes were more different than anything else. And James wouldn't miss those eyes anywhere. Lily's eyes were the only eyes of that color, but maybe now there were two people with those eyes? Or maybe James was just thinking about hopes that should've been long dead. Lily didn't like him, and she never would...but still...it might happen one day....  
"What are you thinking about, Jamsie?" Sirius was saying, pulling James from his own day-dreams.  
"Nothing." He said, and Sirius didn't pursue an answer to his question further.  
They entered Dumbledore's office and it was the same, exactly the same, as James remembered. Even Fawkes was there. All of the portraits who'd told him over and over that he could do so much better and shouldn't always be in so much trouble (he'd tried to take their advice, mainly for Lily's affection. For his efforts he'd gotten a Head Boy badge, complete with the absence of a green-eyed girl's attention) were asleep in their frames. Dumbledore, looking much, much older, was sitting at his desk, reading a book. He'd looked up when they entered and set down the book. He stood up, surveying them with his clear blue eyes that had told James over and over that he wasn't living up to what he could be.  
The last thing that James expected him to do was smile and mutter, "Ah. Now is the time."  
And he couldn't help it. James took a step forward and said, "Time for what?"  
Dumbledore stared at him and for a moment James felt his throat stick. Finally he muttered, "What's going on?"  
Dumbledore smiled. "You'll find out, I'm sure." He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to tell you this, Mr. James Potter, but I'm afraid you've come where you don't belong. Time turners aren't meant to bring people through years, much less twenty. Now--"  
"Twenty years!!!" James yelled.  
"Which way?" Remus said at the same time.  
"Yes, twenty years, and into the future, I might add."  
"And this doesn't seem at all strange to you, Professor?" Snape said smoothly.  
Dumbledore looked at Snape for the first time and said, "Not at all, Mr. Snape. In fact, I am quite familiar with this type of thing, if you please....now the only problem is how to get you back home."  
They stared at him.  
"We're stuck here?" Peter said hopelessly from behind Sirius.  
"For now." Dumbledore answered soberly. "But I'm sure you'll find your way back in due time...Minerva." He was suddenly addressing her, and only then did James remember that the woman was in the room.  
"Yes?" She asked, obviously quite winded from the events of the night.  
"Please prepare a room for this group...and then come back to speak with me." He looked at her meaningfully, and she seemed to get his meaning, even if James didn't, and hurried the group out.  
* * *  
Lily wasn't really asleep, and James might know it, but it didn't matter much. It wasn't like she hadn't tried to go to sleep. It was just that their conversation was too intriguing for her to forget quickly and sleep. She had to listen to it. She was pretty sure that Snape wasn't asleep close by her either, but Peter was snoring loudly. No exciting news for him. But Snape thought about things to forget about this, so Lily was almost sure that if she was awake, so was he.  
Lily was lying in a cot in a comfortable circular room somewhere in the castle. A fire was crackling in the firebox and the Marauders, Ron, Hermione, and Harry were sitting on two sofas in front of it.  
Lily had only asked two questions. First, what the red-haired boy's name was. Second, what the brown-haired girl's name was.  
Ron and Hermione.  
Then James and the Marauders had taken over.  
First question, of all things, was, "So what new kinds of brooms do they have?"  
James, of course.  
One of his many detestable qualities. He cared more about Quidditch than he did about his friends.  
Overall, Lily was now seeming to get the point. There were some things that Harry and his friends just didn't want to say. Maybe they were painful subjects. Other things were quick, and quite obvious. Yes, Harry was James's son. No, Sirius didn't have any kids, as well as the other Marauders. Yes, Snape had a good job as a teacher. They didn't know who Ness was. Yes....  
Lily was Harry's mother.  
Which Lily didn't get at all. James? JAMES? James Potter? The skinny, rude, obnoxious, hateful, disgusting, annoying, not to mention arrogant and not-all-that-smart James? THAT James??? She couldn't believe it at all. Impossible.  
But Lily wasn't completely stupid. She'd seen Harry's eyes. She wasn't sure whether or not she'd ever seen those eyes on anyone but herself. James knew it, too.  
Lily shuddered in her cot.  
It was only when she was just barely falling asleep that Lily heard James get irritated. He must've asked the same question at least twelve times before, and still Harry kept skirting around the answer.  
"What are we doing now?" James was asking.  
"I..." Harry said, almost stuttering, "...you....do you...you don't...want to know."  
"Why not? Really! It can't be all that bad! It's not like we're dead!" James was laughing, but his laughter didn't last long. Harry wasn't laughing, too, and so James's quieted, dwindled, died, and fell like a leave does in autumn.  
"Are we?" Remus asked.  
Lily was holding her breath.  
Harry cleared his throat, "Well...not you, but James, Lily, and Sirius...are...."  
He didn't have to say the last word.  
  
There! Is that a bit better? Two and a half pages...Imagine if this were a real book....Goodness....what a short book... Thanks again to the reviewers, they make me so happy!^_^ 


	20. Remus and Moony

I hate the HP movies...I hate them I hate them I hate them!!!!! I know that I'm being sort of...rude...by saying this, but what was Rowling thinking? Only English kids get to be Harry Potter?????? At least there would've been more choices for a GOOD person to play the kid if she'd allowed other countries to try out....But then, as a good friend of mine says, Rowling probably just wants this to be something only for England, something that all people to remember only England for...I guess....but really...they at least could've found a better person for the part.... Anyway, while reading all my reviews (thank you all!) I found the first one so far that has actually offended me. Won't say the name, because I'm not sure if someone wants me to say....but it was referring to the length of my chappies in (*clears throat*) a rather rude way. But, oh well, I can't win you all over, now can I? Oh yeah! One more thing! I keep forgetting to answer this one person's question...Let's see...she asked why Ron would ask Hermione to marry him so early, because they ARE in 6th year, after all. Actually, I have no idea, whatsoever why he would do that, but it does seem like a Ronnish thing to do, if you think about it. It was sort of a spur of the moment thing that I added, and perhaps I'll add it into the plot somehow later on...  
  
CHAPTER TWENTY: REMUS AND MOONY  
  
"I..." Harry said, almost stuttering, "...you....do you...you don't...want to know."  
"Why not? Really! It can't be all that bad! It's not like we're dead!" James was laughing, but his laughter didn't last long. Harry wasn't laughing, too, and so James's quieted, dwindled, died, and fell like a leave does in autumn.  
"Are we?" Remus asked.  
Lily was holding her breath.  
Harry cleared his throat, "Well...not you, but James, Lily, and Sirius...are...."  
He didn't have to say the last word.  
* * *  
"Really, Harry, why did you have to say?" Hermione was asking on the way back to the Gryffindor dormitories, all of them looking quite glum.  
"They would've figured it out sooner or later...or we would've told them somehow...or maybe Dumbledore might've said. I'm sure that they would've found out."  
"But they didn't need to know now, did they?"Ron asked, sounding depressed, thinking of Sirius's horrified face.  
"I'm not sure, but I'd rather them hear it from me than anyone else." Harry muttered.  
* * *  
Remus wasn't exactly getting by. Soon enough he would loose what little possessions he owned, to be left with nothing, but the shadows. That had happened before. He didn't want it to happen again, but it didn't seem like he could do much about it. No one would hire a werewolf. Secretly he couldn't blame them. If he were in their places, he wouldn't hire a werewolf either.  
Of course, the newer, and more secure, laws passed by the Ministry against werewolves weren't helping much. And his place in the Order of the Phoenix almost seemed to make things worse. More and more people knew who (and what) he was every day. He couldn't go to a public place without somebody pointing and saying, "Hey! You're that werewolf, aren't you?"  
As Remus walked into his small, shack-like house with a bag of bread and meat (any food was fine with him, these days) he shook such miserable thoughts away. He didn't like to dwell on his depression. It was easier to just ignore it.  
The Order had, however, been exciting today. Dumbledore had called a meeting, and Severus had given them all the information that he'd found out in the last month or so. Not much, but still something.  
Voldemort was building a fortress.  
Of all the information, that was the most important and basic part.  
The man was smart, instead of dealing completely in small, nasty, deceiving ways, he set his heart to higher goals, but never to goals that couldn't be achieved.  
And yes, immortality could be achieved, given time. That was what Dumbledore thought, him and most of the Order of the Phoenix.  
Remus set down his grocery bag on a small table in the kitchen, then lit a fire for tea in the fireplace.  
He jumped when he heard Dumbledore's voice coming from the fire.  
"Really, Remus, such a dark place. You ought to put some light in here."  
He wheeled around to see Dumbledore's head in the heart of his fire, right under the teapot, and hastened to remove the teapot.  
"I believe there is something here that might be of interest to you, Remus." Dumbledore said soberly. His tone was the first worrying part of the upcoming conversation.  
"What?" Remus said, not thinking about being polite and getting right to the point. He pulled a chair close to the hot fire and sat down.  
"You have just arrived at Hogwarts...in..a...smaller..form."  
Apart from the fact that it was a rarity to ever hear Dumbledore at loss for words, Remus could make neither head nor tail of this statement.  
"What?" Remus repeated in a confused tone.  
"You and the rest of the Marauders, Lily Evans, and Severus Snape have just been brought here by a time turner."  
Short and sweet.  
"They're all dead, Dumbledore." Remus almost felt like laughing! "And no time turner could've brought them HERE, YEARS after Lily and James have died. I mean, sure-"  
"You don't believe me, do you, Remus?" Dumbledore said, almost sadly.  
Remus paused, then, "No, Dumbledore, I don't."  
"Well, then you can come and see them. But tomorrow I'm sending them back."  
"Back where?" Remus asked in a moment of anxiety.  
"To their own time, Remus. I'll have Harry make a portal...and I suppose it will have to be on the grounds somewhere...and he'll send them back, Harry, I mean."  
"Why are you telling me this?"  
"Because you're their friend, and I'm sure they're asking many questions that Harry can't answer." Dumbledore answered.  
"Do you think he's answered the questions that they-" He stopped. "Wait. Dumbledore, how come I can't remember this, if it really happened?"  
Dumbledore smiled in the fire, and in result swallowed a mouthful of ash, which he spent a few moments coughing up, and when he'd recovered he said, "I was wondering when you would ask that question, Remus. And in return, let me ask you this question: What do you think memory charms are for?"  
* * *  
James woke up, not knowing where he was, until he saw Lily lying in a cot close to him. Of course. It all came back to him and his stomach churned when he remembered.  
It was still going through his mind, as if the echoes were reverberating over and over again, and had been doing so all night long.  
He was dead....  
Dead....  
Dead.....dead....dead...............  
And Harry hadn't even told him how, or when, or-if he was killed-who killed him.  
"You're dead...."  
Dead.....  
James had never even imagined that he would die one day. It had just...never come to his mind....And now he felt the first pang of fear. What would it feel like to be dead? What would it feel like to be dying? Was his death going to be quick, or drawn out? Now that he knew he was going to die, was he going to fight to live? Or just let it happen?  
James retched and prepared to flee to the toilet, but the sickness subsided as soon as it had come and he stayed still.  
He heard noises coming from outside, and only then did he notice the windows.  
Cautiously, he stood up and went to look at what the future had to offer, but it was the same. The same grounds, the same towers and greenhouses...The owls were swooping in and out of the Owlery after a long night of hunting, or into the Great Hall's open windows, delivering letters or packages (thinking of the Great Hall made James remember how hungry he was). The Forbidden Forest was as dreary as ever. The Womping Willow was still standing, tall and ill-cared for (as if anyone would've dared to care for it anyway). Rubeus Hagrid's cabin was still there, the chimney oozing smoke as James wondered if the old gamekeeper still lived there...The Quidditch stadium farther off. James could see the players flying above it, practicing, no doubt. Too bad, it would've been great conditions for a game. The sky was pearly white and the air was still...The lake-  
Something flashed in James's mind-  
Then Harry walked in, followed by a gray-haired man who looked dimly familiar, Ron, and Hermione.  
James turned away from the window as the man's eyes widened.  
"James..." He said, looking as if he were about to faint. James wouldn't be surprised if he did faint, he looked so weak. But then, he wasn't quite so old as he had seemed. His hair was gray, and his face was lined, but it looked like he wasn't supposed to be old, maybe something had happened to make him look old.  
When James didn't respond, the man stepped forward, looking crestfallen. "Don't you remember me, James?" He said in a sad tone.  
"I don't know." James said, bold as ever. "You look familiar..."  
Then Remus's voice came in, and James jumped, he hadn't known he was awake-neither had the man, most likely, because he jumped, too. "He's me."  
It took a moment for those words to sink in.  
"He's who?" James said, disbelieving.  
"Me." Remus repeated.  
The man nodded, and now James saw some similarities. The same eyes, the same shape of face, the same nose and mouth.  
"What's your name, then?" James asked, ignoring Remus's retort of, "He's me! Quit it!"  
"Remus Lupin." The man said.  
"What do I call you?"  
"Moony."  
James stared at him. "Why?" He said.  
"Because I'm a werewolf." The man said quietly.  
If James had known that many more people than a few boys and Remus's immediate family knew Remus was a werewolf, then he wouldn't have broke into a smile, but gone on with questions until there could be some other way for him to be sure. But he didn't, so he said, "Well, you've gotten old, Moony! How's it feel like, being old?"  
"Tiring," the man said, smiling slightly. "And I'm sure you're hungry?" So without an answer he pulled out his wand and produced a breakfast of toast and eggs on the closest table, to which James immediately migrated, followed closely by the younger Remus.  
"So what should we call you, sir?" James said playfully.  
"Just so we can get this strait, I'll go by Remus, and you,"He said pointedly toward his younger self, "We can call Moony. It will be easier that--"  
"Wow! Wormtail, wake up and see who's here!" Sirius yelled, arousing Wormtail and jumping over the back of James's couch to go rub Remus's hair. He was soon followed by Wormtail, who looked excited. Lily came over soon, smiling slightly at Remus, her green eyes nearly lost in the blackness of her pupils. And lastly, Snape came up, leaning on the back of James's couch, his eyes on Remus's graying hair with distaste.  
Sirius and Wormtail soon settled down and ate some toast cheerfully.  
And they talked of small things, like about what was happening now with the Ministry. It was strange to talk, as if this was nothing, as if it was just a normal morning on a normal day, but it was easier than paying attention to the reality of the situation that they were all in. They asked if Voldemort was still around, and Remus said yes, but after that he sort of reared away from that subject. James asked how Quidditch was going, and Harry answered that enthusiastically. Soon the two were engrossed in a conversation about Quidditch, and Ron joined in. Hermione asked what they thought of the future, and Sirius told her what he'd like to see and do, while they were there. Remus said that they would have to leave soon, and Lily said that was too bad. Meanwhile Snape ignored them all and looked out the window.  
Just as Wormtail was saying that maybe Remus could conjure up some juice for them, Moony interrupted and asked in a quite, yet extremely noticeable voice, "So, Remus, what happened to Ness?"  
  
"Well, well, well. Weasley Senior." Can you guess who says that? Why of course you can! 


	21. Ness's Story

Author's Notes: Arrgh! So many questions! How come people keep asking if Draco and Lucius are in the story yet? No, they aren't, although I might stick them in somewhere later. I haven't completely filled this whole story out in my brain yet. And the little quote that I slipped in at the end of the last chapter wasn't part of the story, I was just being weird (you have to work with me here!) And yes, Ness is Remus's gf (she doesn't belong to me, either, though) And I have to thank babysb for reminding me about old Snape. I can't believe I almost forgot him. This plot is going to get so so so complicated.... I'm also sorry for making Remus seem so sad all the time. Now that I look back, a lot of the characters seem to be depressed a lot of the time. I'll try to give it a more upbeat mood after this, okay? * (*sigh*) One more thing. At first I was pissed at all of the reviews about what I said about Daniel Radcliffe. And I'm going to say that I have absolutely no problem with the books staying British, or really the movie, for that matter. And when I said that I thought other countries should've gotten a chance to be main characters, I didn't only mean America. I can't believe anyone would even think that. I said other countries, not just America (for example, Australia, South Africa, Canada!) Just letting anyone who cares know, I did take a different side in my message. I've already said that maybe J.K. Rowling wanted the story to be kept British, but apparently no one read that part of the message, now did they? So, like I said, I was pissed off at first, but now that I think of it, if I were from England I wouldn't have been too thrilled about the fact that other people don't want it to stay British either. (*Please be aware that if you said nothing about Lyra's opinions on the casting of the Harry Potter movies, then she thanks you and apologizes for any inconveniences to you. No more will be said about the movies, or her opinions on them (or much else, lest she be turned into mush by the many people who don't agree with her), so she begs that no one review anymore on the subject, for fear that she will have an overload.*) * * * * * Disclaimer: Reminder that all Harry Potter content, except for the plot and a few of the places, do not belong to me. This is also a disclaimer for the character called Vanessa. She's not mine, either, but belongs to a fanfiction.net user-Ness Lupin * * * * *  
  
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: NESS'S STORY  
  
Just as Wormtail was saying that maybe Remus could conjure up some juice for them, Moony interrupted and asked in a quite, yet extremely noticeable voice, "So, Remus, what happened to Ness?"  
Remus stopped talking abruptly, and the others, following his lead, slowly quieted down as well. Moony and the other Marauders looked up at Remus expectantly. Lily could immediately sense the bad news in the air. Snape looked at the lot of them, sniffed rudely, then felt terrible for not at least paying any respects to a girl who he'd seen only a day before, who had stood up to him. James was thinking much the same trail of thoughts.  
What had happened to Ness?  
"Yes, Remus, what's happened to Ness? Vanessa?" James muttered, seeing the flicker of panic in the old man's eyes that were exactly the same as his seventeen-year-old friend's eyes.  
"Who's Vanessa?" Ron said, not seeing Moony's alarmed look, or Lily's fearful glare.  
After a moment, "'Who's Vanessa?'" Moony muttered.  
Even though it seemed as if every particle of James's attention was on Remus, in the corner of his eye he still see a tear trailing over Moony's cheek.  
Remus was breathing deeply, looking up at the ceiling, his hands clutching at each other as if looking for something, anything, to anchor onto. The cheerful morning seemed to have disappeared, to leave nothing but a cold, dry, cloudy day.  
James couldn't bear to look at the old man. He turned his gaze instead onto the other people in the room. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were looking up at Remus with dread in every feature. Snape was looking interested, though not in the least bit sad. Wormtail and Sirius were looking horror-stricken, leaving Wormtail looking small, chubby, and out of place, and Sirius looking rather unlike his usual roguish self and leaving him ugly and bewildered. The small, flaming light that was usually in Lily's eyes seemed to have gone out and she looked pale and scared. And Moony looked...  
"I think I'm going to be sick--" He said, before he hurried away to the toilet.  
This was worse than finding out that THEY were dead.  
Something must've come to Snape's mind, because he said, "But you never said that she was dead. How come we always assume the worst? Is she dead then?" He said this all in a very businesslike tone, as if conversations having to do with the death of friends happened quite frequently. For a moment James felt a hatred flame up inside his chest, until he realized that the slimeball had a point. Nobody had ever said that she was dead.  
But Remus looked at Snape, and they stared at each other for a while, until finally Remus said, "Yes, she's dead."  
Unfortunately this was the point when Moony came back into the room, wiping his cheek on a towel, and he almost looked like he was about to be sick again, but he recovered and walked sturdily back to the couch, sat down and looked his older self strait in the eye. Remus smiled at him wryly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.  
"How?" Was the only word that Moony could get out without being sick again, and Remus's smile faded altogether, leaving him looking older and sadder.  
He was silent for a minute or so, obviously thinking about something that hadn't been thought about in a long time. Soon his eyes glazed over and the story slowly seeped out. * * *  
Ness watched Harry crawling all over his father's feet, cooing and smiling up at them all with big, green eyes. She smiled down at him as she massaged her swollen belly absently, then looked out the window at the sky. Remus. If it weren't for him...But he was worrying. She might as well humor him while she still had to. Slip and fall....She hadn't done that for a long time, why was he worrying now?  
She knew the answer to that and smiled slightly at a bird that was pecking in the summer grass outside. Her little passenger. He wouldn't want that one to get hurt, nor her, for that matter. But Remus knew she could take care of herself. It was only in the last few months that he'd begun to worry about his wife's pursuits outside. She really couldn't wait to be returned to her old lifestyle, but, then again, it would probably never be the same.  
She hoped it was a girl, with big, tawny eyes, and brown baby curls swirling over her shoulders. But, now that Ness thought about it, if it was a boy she wouldn't be so displeased, although she hadn't spent much time working out what the boy would look like.  
"Ness?" James was saying, bringing her back to her senses. For a moment she had a spur of her old frustration and an all-too familiar thought went through her mind...what had changed him...?...and then she forgot about it, as she always did and said, "Yes?"  
"You okay?" He asked (another thing that brought that previous thought to her mind. The old James would never enquire about whether or not she was okay.)  
"Yes, why do you ask?" She said, clearing her mind once again.  
"I've been talking to you for five minutes, in case you didn't notice, and you haven't been responding." James said, looking impatient. That was her old Jamsie.  
Ness smiled and said, "Sorry, Jamsie boy. I was just thinking. What did you want to talk about?"  
"Well, we were talking about making Sirius Harry's godfather, until you drifted off. So...what do you think?"  
"I suppose." Ness said, thoughtfully. "But, James, would he really be a good decision? He's a bachelor...Sirius doesn't know the first thing about taking care of a little boy!"  
James smiled, "Neither do you, but you'll find out soon enough." Making her blush, "And it's not like Lily and I are going to drop dead before Harry is old enough to know something of how to take care of himself."  
No, that wasn't very likely, but for some reason the sparkle in James's eyes seemed to have momentarily gone out, despite his easy tone. Probably the thought of actually dying, Ness thought.  
Harry was tugging on Lily's skirt, and she picked him up while he giggled happily, crawling all over her lap, obviously not wanting to be cuddled but preferring to roam over her knees, holding onto the silver necklace hanging over her neck with the lily on the end so he didn't fall onto the floor. Ness, watching him, thought again of her own and looked outside again.  
At that moment Remus came in, looking slightly tired, but not so much. "Well," He said, "Nothing. Sometimes I think of what a waste it is to be working so much for the Order. We never get anything out of it--"  
"Come on, Moony," James said, stretching out in his seat and taking a brief, sweet glance at Lily, "You ought to be more positive. We're doing something for wizard kind. Don't you feel proud?"  
"Not particularly, but maybe that's because all I'm doing is keeping track of the groups of werewolves that are more trouble than they're worth. It doesn't help much to keep them on our side, they'll turn as soon as another werewolf right is altered."  
"Well, Dumbledore obviously thinks something more of them, but you can never tell what that man is thinking..." James said cheerfully. He glanced at his watch, "We should go. If you two are coming over for dinner we need to start it soon."  
So they left, and walked a few blocks to the London Underground, stopping closest to the hidden Godric's Hollow. They were held up by a pair of Muggles who chattered over Harry for a few moments, and came to James and Lily's house to find Sirius already inside.  
"Why, hello." James said good naturedly, "Fancy finding you here--"  
"Thanks for the welcome." Sirius said scathingly, and happily took Harry from Lily's hold while the boy sighed with content, getting ready for a short nap.  
"So where's Peter?"  
Getting ready for dinner, the group of friends didn't know that at that moment, something was happening, that, if Dumbledore had known about, would be something of great interest...  
  
Two Death Eaters were heading in the direction of the Lupin household. They were quite aware that it was empty, but that was okay. The element of surprise was one of the best weapons possible. They stepped over the emerald green grass that was under the tree in front of Remus's home, one of them crushed a dandelion under his foot as he followed the other into the house, after the alahomora charm was used on the door.  
"I don't see why we're--" The first Death Eater said, cut off.  
"The prophecy, dolt!" The other whispered as they paced the living room, looking at the pictures of Ness and Remus, James and Lily, Sirius, Peter, and little Harry. Their eyes lingered for a moment on the boy, but then the second Death Eater continued, "Three, Nott, three. Two if this works. Our Lord said that the chance is small that this child might be the one, but there's still a chance. He said to get rid of the threat while we're able. It might be born at the right time, and if so..."  
"Another threat." Said Nott, scowling at the picture of Sirius and setting the picture so it faced down. "So what about Pettigrew?"  
"Didn't you get any of this in your dull head why He was explaining it...?....Obviously not. I'll tell you one word only, and see if it penetrates through that thick skull of yours-diversion."  
  
Peter Pettigrew had obviously been running, that or he had seen something that had simply taken his breath away. Whatever the reason, when he apparated into the Potters' sitting room his face was sweaty and pale (though that was usual) and he was out of breath.  
Immediately everyone in the room rushed to his side, helping him into a chair while Harry sat in the corner uttering a few baby words, his eyes confused and afraid.  
It took Peter at least a minute to catch his breath, and then longer to calm down and start speaking in comprehensible sentences.  
"...Break in....in the Ministry....Death Eaters...."  
Remus, James, and Sirius straitened up, staring at Peter while he gulped for breath, then Sirius rushed over to the fire place, through in a handful of floo powder, then stuck his head into the roaring green fire. James began pacing and Lily stood looking at him. Ness was watching the flames in the grate, wondering...  
Sirius pulled his head out of the fire, and groaned, "Dumbledore knows. We have to go...."  
James kissed Lily on the forehead, as gently as was possible with him in such a hurry, chucked Harry under the chin with a quick smile, then apparated. Sirius, followed, along with Peter, and Remus was last. He barely brushed lips with his own wife, and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry, Ness." and was gone like the others.  
Ness was still staring into the flames. All of the men...She felt so useless, and for the first time she felt reproach for her soon-to-come child. She should be with them! Fighting! She glanced at Lily, who was staring at Harry. Perhaps she felt the same way...  
If Ness stayed she knew that she would spend the rest of the night in silence, wanting to leave, uncomfortable....more so with Lily there. She'd never liked Lily as much as most people did. She got up to leave-  
"Please don't, Ness." Lily said, her wide green eyes afraid, "Don't-- "  
"I'm not going to help them...I just...I need to be alone...."  
Lily smiled slightly and choked, "I know how that feels."  
  
The moment before Ness went through her door, she felt a great fear sweep over her as if she'd been drenched with water. She didn't know why, of course, but she felt that something bad would happen if she entered her house, but the fear was momentary.  
She came through the door, completely unharmed, and shrugged a moment before the words "AVADA KEDAVRA!" were shrieked and a jet of lurid green light propelled through the air just past her head.  
Ness screamed and ran to the side, into the dining room, hearing the next spell hit the wall. Her wand, where was her WAND? And where were they? Whoever they were-there were at least two-and they didn't mean well, she could tell from the way her stomach knotted up and her brow was immediately dotted with sweat beads and the way her heart was thumping in her throat to the point that she couldn't breathe. She wasn't thinking, it was all reaction.  
Ness jerked for no reason known to her, off to the left, and knew that it had been a good choice. Stay alive..stay alive..stay alive..Only that wasn't what she was thinking. She was on the staircase now, upstairs to the room that she and Remus shared.  
No, she hadn't needed her wand, she didn't really like to apparate anyway, but now....  
A tall, masked man burst through the door, his wand pointing strait at Ness as he began to chant a spell-but she had found her wand, pointed it at him and yelled, "Expelliarmus!" His wand flew out of his hand and Ness turned around to the window. Dare she jump?  
No, not with a baby.  
She turned back to the Death Eater, pointed her wand at him again, yelling, "Stupefy!"  
  
Remus heard a crash in his house as he walked up the steps toward the front door, and felt a plummeting in his stomach that made the fear he'd felt earlier seem like nervous twinges.  
  
Ness ran out of the room, and barely had time to take in the fact that there was another Death Eater, with pale blue eyes, that stood before her, before she was falling.  
Ness felt a coldness rising from her feet upward faster than Remus's heart was being crushed in his chest while he watched her fall. She stared at Lucius Malfoy, her murderer, for a moment as she fell...  
...Remus would have saved her....she loved him...  
Ness had heard that the moment before a person dies, she sees her whole life pass before her eyes. That wasn't what she saw. She saw herself and Remus, and all of their friends, on the grounds of Hogwarts, but Peter wasn't there. She could hear her own laughter, and see them all clearly, but for some reason, she couldn't feel the sun. Neither could her unborn son, nor would he ever have the chance. * * *  
Remus was silent for a while, and nobody seemed to want to spoil the silence. Moony's face was pale and he was staring at the floor. He muttered something incomprehensible, then cleared his throat, and said clearly, "Were they ever caught?"  
Only his counter-part knew who he was talking about.  
"Not for that crime, no." * * * * * * * A/N: I am so cruel!!! Argh! 


	22. A Long Talk

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: A LONG TALK  
  
Remus was silent for a while, and nobody seemed to want to spoil the silence. Moony's face was pale and he was staring at the floor. He muttered something incomprehensible, then cleared his throat, and said clearly, "Were they ever caught?"  
Only his counter-part knew who he was talking about.  
"Not for that crime, no."  
"What do you mean?" James asked.  
"Lucius Malfoy was caught for a different crime last summer. I believe he's currently talking his way out of Azkaban." Remus replied.  
"So..." Snape said, "You're saying–I mean...sorry–Lucius Malfoy killed your girlfriend–Vanessa–because...why? And–and Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater, right?"  
"Yes, he's a Death eater...and...in order to explain this correctly I'll have to tell you a little more. Harry, I need your permission...?" Remus looked at Harry.  
"For what?" Harry said, suspicious. James noticed how much Harry's voice was like his own.  
"The Prophecy, Harry. I don't even know if you've told..." He indicated Ron and Hermione, who both looked confused, exactly how James felt.  
James didn't understand any of this. He looked at the sun's reflection on the carpet, following it with his eyes to the windows. He could barely see Harry, Hermione, and Ron in the corner of his eye.  
Harry looked exactly like him, but James could already tell that the two of them acted nothing alike. James himself was rowdy and cheerful. Harry was quiet and composed. And while James was carefree, Harry seemed almost as if he were carrying something too heavy for him.  
"Harry?" Hermione asked, and James turned his eyes toward her. She was pretty. She wasn't near in matching Lily's beauty, but still.  
They all looked at Harry and for a moment he looked uncomfortable. He rubbed his arm, looking at the floor, then muttered, "Well...Professor...I...I guess..."  
"Professor?" Moony said, but Remus motioned for silence and began, "There was a prophecy made seventeen years ago about somebody who would have power to vanquish Lord Voldemort--" Ron and Wormtail flinched. "–forever."  
"Wait."Harry said, looking pained, "Just...wait, Professor. Please, just...don't say too much...I mean...the Prophecy's okay--"  
"I want to know how we died." James said loudly.  
"And I want to know where I am now." Snape said sleekly.  
"Yeah! Me too!" Wormtail added.  
Something seemed to have come to Remus's mind and he said, "Harry, I have to speak with you."  
As soon as they were out of the room, Remus spoke, "Harry–the Prophecy is fine, as you said. How James and Lily died, I can say, Severus's story–fine. Even how Sirius died is okay to tell–but Peter...I don't know or care how Peter would react, but...James and Sirius are very violent people. They fight for what they believe in, Harry. If I tell them about–about Peter–they'll want revenge for something that hasn't even happened yet. Dumbledore would say the same, and any little thing can change the running of time. We will do a memory charm on them, but even so, memories can be called back in extremes...Even I'm remembering some of this..."  
Harry almost looked older than Remus did for a second, then his expression cleared and he said, "Then don't tell them...say...Say Pettigrew is gone...or that we don't know where he is, but that he is alive..."  
Remus nodded, "Okay."  
  
"You're sure, Harry?" Remus asked, "You don't want to tell Ron and Hermione yourself?"  
"Yes, Professor." Harry said, sitting in a chair off to the side, staring at his knees.  
"Tell us what?" Ron demanded, but Remus motioned him to silence. He cleared his throat and looked around at them all. His face was grave as his eyes rested on James and Lily.  
"I know this is strange to you, Lily." Remus said, smiling suddenly, "I know you're wondering why you would ever marry James Potter. I myself don't know why you changed your mind about him...but, anyway, in order to explain about Ness, I have to tell you about Harry.  
"I've already said about the Prophecy. There is more to it. The signs that it's the right boy in the Prophecy have been found. One was that the parents of the child had already defied Lord Voldemort three times before their son was born. Another was that the child was born at the end of July. It never says in the Prophecy what year the child had to have been born in.  
"I only recently found this out. It wasn't told to me. You see, Ness and I had defied him three times, but one of those times wasn't known of by Dumbledore. So he didn't connect our child to the Prophecy. If my child had been born it Probably would have been born at the end of July, only a year after Harry. But Voldemort must have seen this, didn't want there to be three possibilities–instead of two–and sent the Death Eater to...get rid of the threat before it become one. Do you all understand?"  
Sirius said, "Three? Besides Harry–I mean, Harry is one isn't he?–and...and your son or daughter?"  
Neville Longbottom." Remus said heavily.  
"Frank Longbottom's son?" James asked, "Who did he marry?"  
"Alice–well, actually, I can't remember her maiden name–but, yes, there were three possibilities."  
James swallowed audibly and said, "So...so Harry is the one who has the power--"  
"Yes."  
"But how do you know it's him, and not Neville?" Lily asked.  
"Because there was another part that said that Voldemort would mark the one as his equal. And so he did..." He nodded at Harry who was still off to the side.  
"How?" James asked suspiciously.  
Before Remus could speak, Hermione cut in, "Oh! The Boy Who Lived! The scar! Voldemort killed James and Lily, but he couldn't kill Harry! So is that it, Professor? Harry's scar?" She looked extremely excited as she said this, and James suddenly had a huge distaste of this know-it-all.  
"What scar?" Sirius said, turning to Harry and looking for some kind of deformity in his features.  
"Voldemort tried to kill Harry when he was very young, because he decided that Harry was more of threat to him than Neville. Voldemort murdered James, then Lily, and tried to kill Harry, but the spell rebounded on him. Voldemort disappeared and the only thing that Harry got was a scar on his forehead--" Everyone's eyes darted to Harry's head, "–and Voldemort disappeared for thirteen years."  
"But he came back?" Moony asked.  
"Yes, two summers ago." Remus answered unemotionally.  
Silence for a moment, then, "How come you didn't tell us Harry?"Hermione asked quietly.  
They were all looking at him again. James had finally found the scar on his head. He wondered vaguely why he hadn't noticed it before. It was easily seen, wine-colored and lightning-shaped as it was. Harry slumped in his chair and said, his voice heavy with disgust–or something like it, "Because there was more to the Prophecy, and I wasn't sure if I said anything that I would be smart enough to stop talking before I said it and made you afraid."  
"I already am." Hermione said, and James now noticed the sense of love in her tone with him. He wondered if Harry heard either it, or saw the look of admiration and caring that Ron was showing plainly with his eyes.  
"What is it?" Ron asked, sounding apologetic, as if he were trying not to pry, but at the same time overly-curious almost to that point.  
Harry slumped forward now, with his elbows in his lap and his head in his hands. James noticed that he seemed to have a habit of rubbing his forehead a lot. But he didn't mention it as Harry sat up again and looked at his friends. James really thought about doing something to give him comfort then, as if he could, because Harry looked almost as if he were in physical pain.  
Harry spoke, "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."  
They were all silent for a moment, absorbing this, then, "That's the Prophecy that they were going after last term?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded.  
"But..." Ron began, and he suddenly sounded frightened. So Harry had been right in thinking that they would panic, James thought. "...but....Harry.... 'Either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives'...does that mean–?"  
"Yes." Harry muttered, "One of us is going to die, in the end..."  
Another long silence in which James really didn't know what to say. Harry sighed, and said, "But I can't do a thing about it. Either I have to kill him, or die trying. That's all. But, Professor, maybe we should get off this subject--"  
James felt a moment of resentment toward Moony when he interrupted Harry, still looking at his older self, saying, "What were they caught for? And how did you know who they were?"  
Remus almost looked as resentful as James felt, and he snapped, "Don't act like I didn't care, I did, and I still do." And James realized that Moony was still on the subject of Ness. No matter what other information came he would probably still be thinking about Ness. Only now did James realize how important this all was, and how much they would need to have their memories modified. Remus couldn't remember this. He would imagine Ness dead until she really was. Maybe he was taking it harder than the rest of them were. Remus continued, "But I've had almost sixteen years to think about it." He sighed, "I could see Malfoy's face through his mask, and Nott had taken his mask off. He probably thought nobody else was there. They disapparated before I could use any spell on them, and there was no evidence for the Ministry to believe me when I said it was them. They knew it hadn't be me, of course, because I'd been seen at the Ministry only a while earlier, fighting alongside James, Sirius and Peter. Dumbledore even vouched for my innocence. Malfoy and Nott were found illegally in the Department of Mysteries a few months ago.  
"My child was a threat, that's why he (or she) died. If I could've changed it, I would have. If I could have done anything, I would have. But Lucius Malfoy is an extremely clever man. As much then as he is now. As soon as he saw that I was there that night he dispparated, after he'd found his fellow and dragged him along. And since he had such a high status in the Ministry, he wasn't blamed for Ness's death. I tried my best, but I'm not exactly trusted, even with Dumbledore's good wishes on me. Nobody trusts a werewolf."  
"What about me?" Snape said suddenly, "Where am I now?"  
"Well. Right now you're in this castle. Potions master, though I daresay you would prefer to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, but Dumbledore hasn't given you the position. Years ago you were a Death Eater, but you turned back (I don't know why, the reason is one of Dumbledore's secrets) and you're a spy for the Order of the Phoenix–which is the band of wizards and witches that follow Dumbledore, you might say." And for a flicker of a second, Remus smiled at Snape with something like–to James's disbelief–pride.  
"I was a Death Eater?" Snape said, not smiling back.  
"I told you so, didn't I?" Remus said. "You can probably meet yourself, but you'd have to ask Dumbledore. He would know if it's safe to talk to yourself at the moment."  
"What about me!" Wormtail said excitedly.  
James couldn't be sure of it, because he thought he saw Remus's eyes flicker to Harry for a second, and Harry give him a warning look, then look briefly at Ron and Hermione, as if warning them too. Remus spoke then, as if Harry had assured him that he could go on, "Yes, you're still alive, Wormtail...but we...we don't know where you are. All we know is that you're alive--"  
"Maybe I can find myself while I'm here." Wormtail said, hopefully, and Remus nodded.  
"And us?" Sirius said, "How did we die?" James wondered how painfully he'd taken the news...  
"James and Lily died, I've already said, fighting Lord Voldemort to save Harry. You died, Sirius, a few months ago fighting Death Eaters. All three of you died nobly, but I'm sure you won't want to remember when and how you'll die...?"  
All three of them nodded slightly. James looked at Lily and he saw that she was crying. His first instinct was to comfort her, but, then again...She wouldn't thank him for it. And she was being as conceited as him! Crying only for herself!  
"Alright." Remus said, "Is there anything else that we should talk about?"  
"When are we going back?" James said, "And how?"  
Harry answered him, "Tonight, because only portals should take people through years, and they need a lot of magic to be made. Hogwarts lessons the amount of magic that a person can use. We have to go to the Forbidden Forest tonight." For a moment he looked surprised that he'd known that, and James smiled with a warmth that he hadn't known he could feel at the moment.  
  
*BE SURE TO READ THE NEXT CHAPTER IN PART TWO OF THE TIME TURNER!!*  
  
A/N: Ahem. I'm most likely going to make another story to lead off from here, as you can tell from the message above. That's just for anyone who doesn't feel like reading this, because most people don't. It will go off from exactly where this left off, so don't worry. It's just a mean old scheme of mine to get more reviews. *laughs maniacally for a few minutes* I do like reviews, especially when they help me with my plot. Any confusion while your reading, and tell me, because I need all the help that I can get. Well, as soon as I write a new chapter I'll put it on a new story, part two, you know? I wonder what I should call it?  
  
Thanks to all of my reviewers so far: Ness Lupin, Mockingbirdflyaway, NTonks, Tanya J Potter, HarryGryffingirl, Alynna Lis Eachann, Carmel March, skittish, Sariah Greenleaf, black-cat-on-the-wall, Captain Oblivious, littlx1, LJstagflower4e/JCtigerwolf4e, met19, Babylilz, PrincessSkywalkerOrgana, goddess of darkness3, Romm, Spinx Class of 2008, LittlePrincess4, LadyLilyPotter, QuantumFruitPunch, LilyE, Dude Wheres My Cheese, painterchica, fan33, munkylover256, Makalani Astral, Queen Cari, Nurriel Evenstar, kit21, LegolasMirkwoodElfPrinces, Swishy Willow Wand, teresaangel, cggeek241, Spiffy Pixie, ShieningStar, MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus, Calimora, CzechChicka, Jamie McFly, J.E.A.R.K.Potter, vamperfly, HPdancerfan4, chibisuke, Silvercrystal77, Abluebird225, Cgpotterchicl, Quantummilkshake, winky*pinky*star, andrea912004, imsoftball9, gual1, jennifer, babysb, girlknight, QueenElizabethI, alysia(aka lily), angel90child, Eowyn Jade, supernova8610, Silvercrystal77, rowdy-angel, Eric2, and Sapphire Riddle 


	23. Forget About the Portal

A/N: Okay, so I didn't make it another story. I decided not to, but it's still a part two of the story. Here's another sort of disclaimer. I own nothing except for the plot that I made up. Yep. I'm watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory right now. I love this movie. It's so cute. Anyway, I've promised somebody that I'll make this chapter extra long, so we'll see if it works, k?  
  
~THE TIME TURNER~ PART TWO: THE DARK FORTRESS  
  
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: FORGET ABOUT THE PORTAL  
  
"When are we going back?" James said, "And how?"  
Harry answered him, "Tonight, because only portals should take people through years, and they need a lot of magic to be made. Hogwarts lessens the amount of magic that a person can use. We have to go to the Forbidden Forest tonight." For a moment he looked surprised that he'd known that, and James smiled with a warmth that he hadn't known he could feel at the moment.  
  
Lily spent the day in boredom, at least for the most part. She hadn't known that the future could be so....similar. Basically everything was the same. She could even see a few kids swimming in the lake, just like Lily and her friends always did. It was the strangest feeling she'd ever had.  
She was sitting on a cushiony chair, facing the window. Remus was gone, off to get the older version of Snape, he'd said. Lily wasn't exactly looking forward to that, but that was to be expected. She hadn't really been looking forward to any of this.  
It was closer to the afternoon than it was to the early morning that had already passed. Lily knew that Harry was looking at her. She wasn't stupid. He had been looking outside, just like her, but apparently the sight of her was more interesting than anything out there. She could feel his gaze boring into her head. He was okay. Harry. She could tell that he was a good person, and if he acted like either of his parents, it was more like Lily. Right now James was with Sirius, Moony, Wormtail, Ron, and Hermione playing some knock-off of exploding snap. Snape was in the corner, apparently asleep.  
Lily turned toward Harry. He didn't blink. Maybe he'd known that she was looking at him. Okay, so maybe he didn't look exactly like James. Green eyes. His nose was different. It took Lily a minute or so to recognize his nose. It looked like her dad's nose. His cheek bones were higher and his cheeks looked less filled out than James's. Lily wasn't sure if she particularly liked Harry.  
"Is the future different?" Lily asked.  
That was when the door opened.  
They all looked up. In the doorway stood Remus and next to him was a man who Lily had no trouble recognizing.  
He was tall and thin. His hair was black and looked in need of a cut, because it went past his ears and over his eyes, curling. His nose was crooked and his mouth was thin, looking just as crooked as his nose right now. He was scowling. His black eyes told them all that he didn't want to be here. Lily felt a moment in which she could relate.  
Severus Snape looked over them all with his cold black eyes. Lily saw James and Sirius glower in the corner of her eye. The man's eyes suddenly stopped on his image. The two people stared at each other for a moment.  
"This is strange." Said the older version of Snape. His voice was low and honeyed. Seeing the man was like looking at mud, but his voice amazed Lily. The younger Snape's voice was nothing like that. Maybe it was something that the man had learned over time. As if on cue, the younger Snape cleared his own voice, saying, "Yes, it is..."  
Then the older Snape did something that none of them expected. He smiled.  
Lily had never seen Snape smile.  
She would have expected this smile to look strange on such a rude face. She would have expected to see his face contort into a smile that might look painful.  
She didn't expect his face to ease into a smile, as if it was the easiest thing in the world (it was for everyone but him, Lily would think). His eyes looked alive for a moment....  
But then the smile disappeared. He looked warmer, but Lily suspected that that was just the aftermath. The man took a step toward his young self, said, "Come with me." And turned around again. The other followed and they walked out the door.  
"Wonder what they're going to talk about." James said with contempt.  
"You just have such a problem with him, don't you, Potter?" Lily asked rudely.  
"Yes, in fact, I do." He snapped back at her.  
"Well, if you hate him so much, why do you always worry about what he's doing in his spare time?" Lily said heatedly.  
James opened his mouth to speak, but quickly changed his mind, shook his head, stood up, and walked away to the other side of the room.  
Lily saw Harry smile slightly. She didn't see what was so funny.  
  
They spent the rest of the day, lounging around, talking about whatever came up. Harry and Ron had to leave for Quidditch practice around midday, so they all stood around the windows to watch, with a pair of binoculars that James coincidentally found in a cupboard in their room. There was no doubt about it, James was proud of Harry. He kept saying thinks like, "Must've gotten that from me!" and "Wow! I haven't seen anyone do that for a while!" and "Quick catch! Almost as good as me, he is!" Lily was annoyed within minutes.  
"That's it!" Sirius finally said, while James was laughing at something that Harry had done, "I'm getting out of here! I want a good view of all this stuff, and not a seat next to the guffawing gorilla." He stood up, rubbing his arm (James had just punched him), and headed for the door.  
"Wait!" Lily said, and ran after him. "I'm coming, too!" She honestly didn't want to spend any more time in this room, at least while Potter was there.  
Sirius and James exchanged looks of amazement, but James didn't get up to go with them, as Lily would have expected. Instead he pulled his invisibility cloak from a pocket in his robes, tossed it to Sirius and said, "Have fun."  
  
It was hard to walk under the cloak, with the two of them so close to each other. Sirius kept "accidentally" rubbing up against Lily's chest, which was getting almost as annoying as anything James had ever done. After Lily was out of the cloak, though, she wouldn't mind much. Maybe the only reason why they really weren't allowed out of the room they were in was because of James. He looked so much like Harry, it would be a wonder if nobody stared. But no one would recognize them. Lily and Sirius were as inconspicuous as any other person around here, or they would be. But for now they were just invisible.  
They walked all the way to the Quidditch stadium to watch the Gryffindors practice. Lily had to admit after so long of watching him, he was good at this. Almost as good as James, though she never would have admitted that to James's face. Ron was quite good, too, as keeper, though Lily had seen better.  
After so long of watching under the cloak, Lily finally threw it off her shoulders, saying, "It's stuffy in there." Sirius was getting uncomfortably close, but now he forgot about it. He wasn't like James, that was for sure. Get a girl while she's convenient was probably his motto.  
A few minutes after Lily had thrown off the cloak, Harry spotted her. She could tell that he was trying to ignore her, but it wasn't working. He missed the Snitch while it was stationed twice, and Ron–who must've been captain–said that his mind was obviously not on Quidditch, and called off the rest of the practice. Harry waited while everyone else went in to change, then drifted lazily down to the stands where Lily and Sirius were sitting. Sirius had finally taken off the cloak and was busy trying to think up some sort of spell to repair the clasp on it.  
"Shouldn't you be inside?" Harry asked them, still hovering a few feet above them on a broom that Lily could tell was fast.  
"Yes, Harry, my boy. We just got tired of watching you from the castle windows, and decided to come watch you up close. And James was bothering us." Sirius said, leaning back in his seat.  
Harry smiled slightly, and said, "Well, I would probably have left, too. But, come on, you two should go back. Professor Lupin will bring up lunch soon..."  
"Okay, Uncle Harry." Sirius said with a slight fake whine. Harry turned away, looking confused.  
And that was the extent of their time outside of the room.  
  
Severus came back while they were eating lunch.  
His older self had decided to wait until around lunch time, when everyone would be in the Great Hall, eating. Then he'd brought the boy back.  
Severus really didn't know what to think on this subject. Their conversation had gone on smoothly enough:  
Question: So you were a Death Eater?  
Answer: I still am.  
Question: But you're a spy?  
Answer: Yes.  
Question: Why did you switch sides?  
Answer: Because I finally realized how stupid I was to be following a man like him.  
Question: Who?  
Answer: You know who I'm talking about. The Dark Lord.  
Question: Why does Dumbledore trust you?  
Answer: I don't know.  
Question: Are you afraid of being found out?  
Answer: Yes. But it's best to put on a poker face in front of danger, if you know what I mean  
Question: Do you still hate Potter?  
Answer: Yes.  
Question: Do you hate his son?  
Answer: ...Sometimes I don't.  
Question: Why not?  
Answer: Because he's not like his dad. .................  
Severus really didn't know much. He liked his older self. Of course, the man was not any more pleasant to look at than the boy, but he seemed to be respected. He brought authority. He was charming, in a way, even though Severus couldn't place how so. He also had a very persuasive attitude. Severus had felt like a snake in front of a snake charmer the whole time he'd been talking with the man. It was strange.  
Professor Snape dropped him off at the room where he'd been before. Everyone was in it, eating. They laughed and talked, which was something that Severus had never really taken part in. He and his counter part exchanged a look, in which each knew exactly what the other was feeling. The Professor left, and Severus closed the door behind him.  
Remus Lupin was telling them about something that Severus really didn't care about, so he helped himself to a sandwich from the heaping pile, and moved into the corner. Harry and Ron were in their Quidditch robes. Gryffindor Quidditch robes. For a moment Severus felt anger lapping in the pit of his stomach. He would bet his right arm on the fact that Harry was just as good at Quidditch as James was.  
As Severus listened to their conversation, one fact communicated itself to him. He felt worse than he had before.  
They were to be sent back, a memory charm was to be set on each of them, and they were to be forgotten in this time. Well, not forgotten. Everyone would just pretend that this little problem hadn't come along. Severus felt like baggage that wasn't worth carrying along. Of course, he usually felt like that, but now the feeling was much more pronounced.  
  
Forget about it, James thought to himself, that's just what I'll do. And I'll just go back to the life that I had. Forget that I'm dead. Forget that Snape is still alive. Forget that I have a sixteen-year-old son who has never met me up until now. Forget it all. That's just what I'll do.  
But he couldn't. At least not yet, and for some reason, he didn't want to forget.  
But that was what Dumbledore wanted, of course.  
  
That night they followed Remus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione through the darkness into the Forbidden Forest. James was used to this place, so he didn't mind it much, but he could tell that Lily was slightly nervous. For a moment he felt like comforting her, but she would probably just slap him or something like that. He'd felt the sting of her slaps more than enough times to remember, so he didn't exactly look forward to another one.  
James knew what Harry had meant about how Hogwarts lessened magical power. People didn't want those naughty students to do too much magic. They might hurt someone. As if half of them had the power to do anything that would hurt them or anyone else. In fact, when they'd done to spell to become animagi, they'd had to come here, to the forest. The place practically oozed magic. It was creepy.  
They passed the lake–  
And James remembered something–  
He was running toward the lake. There was something important there–  
But that had only been a dream. Something that he'd dreamt up last night. It was nothing, James tried to convince himself. Nothing real.  
And yet...  
They'd stopped in a clearing. It was passed the lake. James could only see a thick layer of trees all around him. He looked up. All he could see there was a layer of leaves, and a patch of night sky above. He thought he saw Mars glowing orange-red. Small twigs and dead leaves crunched under their feet. Their robes rustled on the ground. There was a chilly breeze whispering from the west. James inhaled the fresh air around him.  
Harry had begun to work. Remus was watching him with some interest, but he didn't interrupt.  
As James watched Harry his feeling was getting more and more pronounced. He wanted to run toward the lake–something was there.  
How come they couldn't stay longer here? Why not? What was the problem. Then maybe James could figure out more about how and why he and Lily had died. Then he might be able to stop it from ever happening. It wasn't like he would get another chance to come here–in this time–Time Turners weren't meant to bring people through years. It had been a mistake–  
–or maybe it hadn't been one. Maybe they'd been meant to come here. Maybe they had to stay. Maybe something was going to happen, and they needed to be here to stop–or to help it go on...  
Harry was done. James was surprised at how fast he'd been. There was now a large hole in the air. There was a slight white-ish mist around it, so James knew where it ended. The hole was perhaps big enough for him to slouch through. Through it he could still see the forest behind it, but the forest seemed to be behind that same white mist. It blurred every now and then.  
"You can go first." Remus said to James, "Everyone can go, Harry and I will follow and as soon as we're there we'll set memory charms on you all."  
They all looked expectantly at James. He was always the first.  
James took a step backwards, away from the portal. He shook his head.  
"No, I'm not going back."  
"James--" Remus said, trying to summon something like strictness on his face. But James interrupted.  
"Not yet, Remus. Why do you think we're here? We came for a reason. I don't know what, but I'm not going back until I've found out--" And with that he turned around and ran into the trees.  
They didn't follow him. Remus muttered something, raised his wand, and when he brought it down the portal disappeared. Then he said, "We have to find him." And went through the trees where James had gone only a moment before.  
After a few minutes of walking in James's wake they started getting nervous. Shouldn't they have found him by now? They began walking at a quicker pace.  
Another few minutes got them no where. They were still in the same cluster of trees that they'd been in before. Or at least it seemed so. The scenery hadn't changed.  
Then, from some place ahead, they heard a yell.  
Remus immediately broke into a flat footed sprint. The fear on his face was obvious. Something was going horribly wrong.  
With everyone following Remus, they broke into a clearing. They'd reached the lake. The moon was glancing off the slow ripples of the lake. There were sounds of shuffling feet and quick breathing from their right, Remus set off.  
There were six figures ahead of them. One of those figures was on the ground, one seemed to be tying that person's hands together. Remus raised his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!"  
One person fell over and the rest turned toward them.  
  
It wasn't much of a contest, the woman thought later.  
Carmen was low-ranked. Perhaps this little scene would bring her up higher on the scale. Not that it had been extremely hard to overcome one man and a few kids. It hadn't been a piece of cake, but it hadn't been extremely demanding. As she tied up the red-haired girl's hands, she scowled. Why hadn't the Dark Lord let her into his inner circle. There were only four or five female Death Eaters, and most of them had gotten good places in his favor, so why couldn't she do the same? Bellatrix had said that it was easy. Maybe she had been lying.  
They were lucky to have gotten a chance like this. After they'd finished with their little fight, Macnair had looked over all of them. It was the perfect catch. A member of the Order of the Phoenix. The son of another member. And Harry Potter.  
They didn't know who the rest of them were. Two of the other boys looked familiar to Carmen. There was a boy who looked a lot like Harry Potter. He must be related. There was another boy who looked like–although it was unbelievable–Severus Snape. Carmen knew that man's face all too well. He'd been accused by the Dark Lord himself of crossing back to Dumbledore, but he'd still found a way to worm himself by into his master's good sights. Carmen honestly didn't know how he'd done it.  
Next to her, Harry Potter stirred, and she pulled out her wand in case he woke up. They had taken all of their prisoners' wands, but there was still danger. But the boy didn't wake up. His unconscious self had only been trying to do what he could not. Carmen smirked as she slid her wand into her pocket.  
They'd been lucky to be here at this time. It had only been a quick check on Hogwarts and all of the dark animals in the forest. Carmen had been trying to ally with the acromantulas. She was a spider animagus. With a little more luck she might have succeeded, but the king acromantula–called Aragog–realized at the last minute what she was, and threatened to eat her if she didn't leave.  
Oh well, it had been worth it. Stupid kid. They'd almost killed him as he came scrambling through the forest. They'd thought he was a spider. After they saw him, they thought he was Harry Potter. But that wasn't right either. Harry Potter wouldn't have been this stupid.  
Carmen was lost in fantasies about being in the Dark Lord's inner circle while they got ready to leave.  
  
A/N: I just made up Carmen. I wasn't going to give her a name, but, whatever. Anyway. Sorry for taking so long with this... 


	24. The Dark Fortress

A/N: Er, yeah, after this chappie I've decided to work on some of my other stories for a while. I'm going to work on the last chapters of "The Many, Many Sayings of Fred and George Weasley" and perhaps write a few one-shot stories (always fun!) And I've been working on one story, so perhaps I should start posting it.  
  
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: THE DARK FORTRESS  
  
Carmen was lost in fantasies about being in the Dark Lord's inner circle while they got ready to leave.  
  
The Death Eater directed them into a large chamber, but didn't follow.  
  
As James walked into the gigantic hall, he reflected on just how he'd gotten here.  
After running through the forest, he'd reached the lake. He wasn't the only one there. There were people in masks, people who saw him, and immediately came in for an attack.  
"Hello, Potter." One of them had said, making James wonder how he knew his name.  
He'd barely had time to yell out before that same masked man had brought out his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!"  
After that, James didn't know what had happened. He assumed that everyone else followed his yell, tried to fight off the people in masks, and had failed. It was obvious that they'd failed.  
James had woken up in a small, windowless, filthy room. The only other people in the room with him were Snape and Lily.  
Lily had woken a few minutes later, looked around, then at James and said, "You got us into this mess, Potter. How are you going to get us out?" Then the door had opened and three masked people had come in, grabbed them all (Snape grunted as he was pulled rather jarringly from his slumber, making James smirk) and walked them out. James didn't have his wand. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't even hit the man who was close to pulling his arm from its socket because he was so weak. How long had he been asleep on that cold, damp floor? He didn't know.  
Going through hallways (James was trying to remember which way they were turning) they caught up with a few more masked men. They had Sirius, Moony, and Wormtail in their grips. James didn't know where Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Remus were.  
The hallways were cold and darker than they should have been. Torches were few and far apart. There were a few doors along the way, but not many. There were many other corridors leading off from the large one that they were being led through. The place smelled like stone. Their footsteps reverberated on the walls, clanging in James's ears. James couldn't tell where they were, had absolutely no clue besides that they were in a corridor. Or at least he hadn't been able to tell before they turned and walked along another corridor.  
Half of this corridor was gone. The wall wasn't there, and it looked like it should have been. If Remus had been there he would have understood this sight. The Dark Fortress was in the middle of construction. James looked beyond this strange hole in the wall, outside. There were more turrets and towers beyond here. They were above a long patio that was built low, but higher than the ground. Perhaps they were only now working on upper levels of this huge establishment. After the patio ended below James, there was a walkway that was above it, looking down on a long dirty road. The trees and greenery around here seemed unhealthy. Everything was yellow and brown, and the trees were short and gnarled, looking like twisted old hands raised toward the gray sky. There were more masked people. Some were on battlements and some were in watch towers. The whole place seemed all at the same time, frightening, crazy, and somehow ingenious. Before James could begin to understand how all of these turrets, walkways, towers, and battlements connected, he was pushed onward, into another darker corridor.  
That was when they'd found themselves here.  
One look at this place made James's jaw drop.  
They were in a room that might have been somewhat as large as the Great Hall. The ceiling must've been fifty feet or higher above them, as it faded away into shadows higher up. There were two chandeliers hanging twenty or so feet from the floor, silver and brimming with twinkling blue candles, which was covered in a black carpet that ran down the whole length of the hall over gray flagstones. The doors that they stepped through were tall and ornately carved, beautiful, even. The whole room was rather rectangular shaped, so that it looked somewhat like an over-sized corridor. The walls had torches hanging in silver brackets. There weren't any pictures on the walls. None at all. As they walked forward toward the other end of the hall, James looked onward, past all of the torches and the two chandeliers. He gasped, and his stomach drooped despairingly.  
At the other end of the hall were two windows. The windows were as tall as the ceiling, the glass was tinted and dark. There were more blue candles in candelabrums. They were semi-circling a dais. Upon the dais was a chair. The chair was curved, not strait-backed. James couldn't see the legs, because they were covered by a black silk cover. Black silk also covered the back of the chair, and the top of the arms.  
James couldn't help but feel horror at the man who was sitting in this chair.  
He, like the masked people who were standing around him, was wearing a long, black cloak, but this cloak had silver and green cuffs and hem. The body that wore this cloak was tall, skeletally thin, so that it looked painful. But not stooped. In fact, this man's frame was sitting bolt- upright on his throne, though not looking frightened or overly-excited. Just curious. His fingers curved over the arms of his chair, the fingernails were ugly, thick, pointed, and yellow. On his slightly tilted head he had long, wiry gray hair that did not in the least make him look old. His face was smoother than even James's own was. It was frightening. The face looked almost like a mask in itself, the skin so stretched and white that it looked unreal. There barely seemed to be a nose, nor any lips, just a small hole above the chin. The cheekbones were high and pointed, giving this man the look of some sort of cat. Below his slim black eyebrows were eyes that matched this cat look. His pupils were slits, running like some sort of wound between redness on either side that looked more like the blood from some kind of wound that anything else.  
James had only ever heard about what Lord Voldemort looked like. Not many people had ever seen the man without being murdered. Not many people had ever lived to say what he looked like. The best description James had ever heard was–red eyes.  
Voldemort looked at Snape and Wormtail and smiled slightly. He didn't regard Lily, Remus, or Sirius.  
James felt a tremor go up and down his spine as Lord Voldemort's eyes turned toward him, surveilling him with a look that plainly said that in his eyes, James was already dead.  
Still looking at him, Voldemort spoke in a high, cold voice to the people holding their prisoners, "Let go of them." James promptly felt his arm being released from the pincer-like grip of his captor. "I see you've met my Death Eaters, James Potter–Don't look so surprised, of course I know your name." He laughed softly, though the sound had absolutely no humor in it. James gulped. He'd just remembered something....  
He and Lily had died trying to defend Harry from Voldemort. Could this be the–  
No, it couldn't be when. Harry's past, James's future. Harry had been a baby.  
"Or perhaps you time could be now, James." Voldemort said, and James gasped.  
"How–how did you--"  
"It was only plain what you were thinking James. You had that very same look on your face when you knew that you were going to die trying to defend Lily and your son fifteen years ago. No more hope, no more happiness, just a grim determination in your brave face, one that's resigned to your fate. It is very amusing to imagine what is going on in that foolish head of yours. Always brave thoughts, James, always brave thoughts." Voldemort was taunting him, trying to get some more–amusement from him (James couldn't imagine this man being amused). James wouldn't fall for it.  
Voldemort smiled a sadistic smile, but before he could say anything, the Death Eater on his left turned to him and spoke, "My Lord, perhaps it isn't a good idea to do this. Perhaps they were all meant to live. Perhaps Harry Potter is the best that you can hope for. What if you kill his parents, and you are faced with an opponent more powerful and ready for you than the boy? Perhaps you shouldn't go through with what you plan on doing."  
For a moment, for a single, hopeful moment, James thought that he wouldn't die–at least not today.  
But then Voldemort smiled a cruel, sneering smile, whispered a few words to the Death Eater–who sidled back into his place unhappily, turned back to James and said, "If you are meant to live, Potter, then you will--"  
He stood up. Only now did James realize just how tall he was. Six and a half feet at least. The man before him smiled, slipped a thin, long fingered hand into the pocket of his robes, and pulled out a wand–  
–James felt a thrill of horror running through his heart like a spear–  
The door behind them all opened, and a short, breathless Death Eater stumbled into the hall. He spoke a few simple words that echoed down the hallway in the silence:  
"....Potter!...Gone!......Escaped--"  
Voldemort raised his wand again, James felt a scream rising to his lips. But the scream didn't escape. There was no need for it, because Voldemort didn't point the wand at him. Neither did he cry out, "Crucio!" in complete fury at James. James didn't die. His heart stopped momentarily, and was now pumping, twanging against his ribs, but he wasn't dead. He wasn't even screaming in agony, rolling on the floor. No. It was the Death Eater who was screaming in agony, at the other end of the hall.  
Voldemort lifted his wand, breathing furiously, turned around toward the Death Eaters, and shrieked, "WELL WHAT ARE YOU ALL STANDING HERE FOR? GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SIGHT AND FIND HIM!!"  
He turned momentarily back toward James and everyone else, called over three Death Eaters and said, "Take them all back to their cells, then help to find the boy and his friends."  
James felt his arm being grabbed once again. He was being led away amidst many scrambling Death Eaters here and there.  
Behind them, as they reached the door, Voldemort yelled, "Until next time Lily, dear."  
  
Dumbledore stared out the window. What if the story had been wrong? What if James and Lily...Remus....Harry was dead by now? What if he had to do something that they hadn't mentioned?  
Strange to think that an old man could feel such fear, such insecurity...could be so...blind.  
Everyone was depending on him. Everyone. Even Harry, whom he was depending on, was always looking toward him for guidance. How could he lead them all? How could he convince them all that he was leading them in the right direction? That was probably the hardest question of all.  
Should he try to get them out now...or later? What if he came, and they were all dead? What if Harry was dead? Would this mean that their only hope of survival, their hero, would be gone? Or would it mean that Dumbledore himself would have to show the prophecy to the world, mark Neville Longbottom himself as Voldemort's equal, and pass the cup to him in Harry's stead?  
Finally, after long contemplation, Dumbledore did decide on something.  
There was a flash of fire in the middle of the room as Dumbledore disappeared.  
He was heading toward the Order. Even if he didn't go in for the rescue now, he could prepare for it.  
  
Ron decided for what must have been the thousandth time to trust Snape. Really! He'd suspected the man time and time again, and time and time again he'd been proven wrong.  
As Hermione would say, just because he didn't like Snape, didn't mean that Snape was wrong. He'd found that out in Hermione's case, but it just wouldn't stick in his head with Snape.  
But shouldn't he feel grateful? Snape had just let them out. Snape, his hated potions master, the man who never failed to make Ron and Harry look like fools every potions lesson. Snape had let them out–  
–then again, they weren't exactly in a better situation. Being chased by three huffing Death Eaters (all of whom kept sending spells their way) wasn't exactly a step up from sitting quietly in a drippy dungeon room.  
Harry pointed his wand over his head, shouted "Stupefy!" and they heard a shout.  
They didn't stop to look back behind them.  
They were about twenty feet ahead of the Death Eaters when they turned a corner. Ron felt a hand clutching his arm, looked around, and found Harry there, just next to the turn.  
"When they turn--" Harry said breathlessly. Ron understood, and stood next to him, raising his wand, with Hermione on the other side of Harry.  
The Death Eaters turned.  
"Stupefy!" They yelled simultaneously.  
The last two Death Eaters fell to the floor, crumpling.  
Pause.  
Ron said, "Wow!" And prodded the closest masked man with his foot. He saw Harry smile slightly, which had been his intention. Any reaction in Harry was better than none.  
After another moment Harry said, "Come on. We have to find the others."  
"Then we have to get out of here, right?" Ron said.  
Harry smiled, "Yes."  
For a moment, Ron felt some shadow of the jealousy that he had once felt. How come he couldn't be the leader of the group? Why didn't Harry ask him what to do–?  
Ron knew why.  
Because if Ron was the leader, they would already be dead.  
  
James didn't know why he'd had that dream. He didn't know what it had meant. He barely even understood what had happened in the dream.  
All that had happened in it were that he was in the forest. He'd known that he could go back home, but at the same time he couldn't. He'd run toward the lake, knowing that something good would happen once he got there. When he HAD gotten there, he'd woken up.  
Everything in the dream was the same as it had happened in real life. Everything but the part in which something good happened when he reached the lake.  
He was now back in the cell (no longer just an innocent room) with Snape and Lily. Snape was picking at his fingernails, bored. Lily was running her fingers through her hair, trying to pull the knots out of it. James wasn't doing anything. His fingernails were too short to pick at. And he liked his hair messy.  
  
Remus felt, if it was at all possible, worse than he had felt only two nights before. Strange to think that only two nights ago, he'd gotten home. And it had been just a normal day, or, at least as normal as it could have been. Strange to think that only two days ago–no, one day!–he had been free. As free as he could have been, at least. He hadn't been hungry, hadn't been sick with cold, and hadn't yet begun to feel the moon's taunting.  
Oh yes, it was coming. Tomorrow night–maybe even tonight–the moon would be full.  
It was surprising that this whole ordeal had only taken a day. Yesterday, he'd met himself. Yesterday, he'd told Ron and Hermione about Harry's prophecy. Yesterday, he'd relived a memory that he'd been bottling up for the last fifteen years.  
The pain was eating him from the inside out as he thought of it.  
Sure, Remus might be alive. He could be whole and healthy. He could even be somewhat happy.  
But at the same time he was always dying. Just like Harry was dying. That was their most common characteristic. They were both dying from pain that couldn't be healed. It was like a virus. It began at the heart, and slowly spread out to everything else. Only, like Remus, Harry wouldn't even know that he was dying until something made him realize it. He wouldn't be able to live again until he realized why he was dying, and how to live again.  
Remus had realized exactly what was eating away at his heart. Even now he knew. He just didn't know how to make it stop.  
A flash of memory slipped through his mind–he'd felt it only twice before. Memories of all of this happening, memories that sneaked through the barriers of the Memory Charm. Only pictures. Maybe a sound. Maybe a feeling. Nothing more. This time only a small flash in his mind, remembering a tall building, one that was only half built, before his eyes.  
Remus promptly forgot about it. He blinked and looked up at the dark ceiling. He pulled his cloak closer around him, trying to ward off the cold. His stomach growled with hunger. He wondered if someone would come to give him veritaserum, to get out the Order's secrets.... 


	25. Cells

A/N: Hey! Sorry I haven't updated for a while, but I was finally working out the whole plot so that I don't mess up the story. So, the whole summary is done and all that I have to do is write it. You'll notice that this chappie is a bit short than my last one–I don't know why. Sorry about that. One reason that I haven't been working on the story other than the fact that I've been working out the story, is that I've started taking karate classes–two nights a week–and I'm really tired afterwards. I've also been behind on homework because of the karate. But other than that it really recommend it, especially if you're older than twelve because then you get the concept of it better. Then there's been my other fanfics–including one that I've just started working on (I haven't posted it yet–as of the 9th of April) and last but not least, my website. As soon as I've finished with it I'll put it up as my homepage, k?  
  
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter content and characters belong not to me, but to J.K. Rowling....and I believe she is something like the fourth richest person in the world because of Harry Potter...who knew...  
  
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: CELLS  
  
A flash of memory slipped through his mind–he'd felt it only twice before. Memories of all of this happening, memories that sneaked through the barriers of the Memory Charm. Only pictures. Maybe a sound. Maybe a feeling. Nothing more. This time only a small flash in his mind, remembering a tall building, one that was only half built, before his eyes.  
Remus promptly forgot about it. He blinked and looked up at the dark ceiling. He pulled his cloak closer around him, trying to ward off the cold. His stomach growled with hunger. He wondered if someone would come to give him veritaserum, to get out the Order's secrets....  
  
Harry led the way down the darkened corridor. Soon Voldemort would send people down here. Set as a trap for him. Now was the time to get everyone out.  
There were rooms–cells–along this corridor. Each door was made of metal, with a small window at the bottom that would be barely large enough to fit an arm or a leg into. They stopped at each door to look inside. Most were empty.  
Why hadn't Voldemort killed Harry when he'd had the chance? When Harry was still locked up, tired and wandless. Voldemort certainly didn't still want a one-on-one match between the two. All of the times he had arranged that, it had ended up in disaster for him. Voldemort wasn't stupid. So he wouldn't stoop to villain cliches just to satisfy his own lust for blood. That was fantasized hope.  
They passed one cell and a hand shot out of the low window, grabbing hold of Ron's foot. He yelled and fell.  
A jumbled, barely comprehensible, rapid voice came out, giving them something to sense besides the bony hand that wouldn't let go of Ron. It said, while Harry and Hermione struggled frantically to pick off the long fingers, "....Kill the boy....NO! I CAN'T....you will–damned as I am–I won't be damned anymore--"  
They finally freed Ron, stumbled backward, and ran as fast as they could away from the hand and the insane man.  
"What was that?" Ron asked, frightened.  
"It didn't sound like he was on our side..." Hermione gasped.  
"Sirius told me last year that Voldemort--" Ron flinched, "–kills his own supporters, as well as those who are working against him. Maybe that used to be a Death Eater, but he disobeyed or something..."  
They were all quiet for a moment at the actual mention of Sirius from Harry–but the silence was broken by whispers coming from a cell to their left.  
"...So he was talking to you?"  
"In was scary. He was in my mind--"  
"Mum?"  
There was a scrambling sound and James, Lily, and Snape appeared at the little window.  
"Just a sec--" Harry said, and he pulled out his wand, pointed it at the lock and muttered, "Alahomora," then the lock clicked and the door creaked open. Harry smiled.  
"Where's everyone else?" Hermione asked suspiciously, looking at the three who came out.  
"They weren't in the same cell with us. C'mon, I think they're this way--" James said happily, leading the way.  
They found Sirius, Moony, and Wormtail without trouble–besides a quiet argument that had begun between James and Lily–and Sirius nearly jumped on top of them all with happiness.  
"Yes, yes, yes!" He laughed, helping Harry to his feet (he'd just knocked him over with joy). "So....where to now?"  
They all looked at Harry, who said, "Snape told us to go to his dormitory after we've found Professor Lupin. He said it's on the second floor, fourteenth door on the left...."  
"Why do you keep calling me 'Professor Lupin'?" Remus asked.  
"You were our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in third year–the best one, in fact." Hermione said proudly.  
Moony smiled.  
"So where's ole Moony?" Sirius asked excitedly.  
"I don't know. We'll have to find him."  
As they began walking James came forward, pushing in between Hermione and Harry. Hermione sniffed disapprovingly, but James ignored her and addressed Harry instead, "You really trust Snape?"  
Harry was silent for a few minutes, then he looked over at James with a strange glint in his eye. "Yes. I don't like him, Dad, but that doesn't mean that I don't trust him."  
James raised his eyebrows confusedly. Harry had just called him "Dad". He couldn't imagine himself being called "Dad"....at least not by a kid who was only a year younger than him...  
"Sorry--"  
"RUN!" Harry yelled, and all of them ran. They didn't know why. Maybe they were startled into obedience, but they ran.  
  
Harry felt the slim wand being jammed harder into his neck as the others sprinted off. Whoever was holding the wand didn't need to say a word for him to understand–One move and he'd be dead. He stared longingly at the retreating feet of his friends and his family. His wand was in his pocket. His fingers were inches away from his pocket.  
Harry's finger's twitched and he moaned simultaneously as small sparks burned the skin on his neck. A female voice spoke in his ear as his captor forced him to move, "Have seen you in a while Potter...not since....last June, wasn't it?"  
Harry felt anger rising from his stomach to his heart and finally to his throat until he felt as if he were choking. It was Bellatrix.  
  
James was running...running running....His breath caught in his throat as his breathing hardened. Lily was in front of him, her red curls bouncing with every step she took, running just like the rest. Ron was at his side, breathing heavily, his strides longer than anyone else's.  
Someone stepped from a doorway in front of them and they all slowed as they realized who it was.  
Snape.  
He looked at them all, then said, tonelessly, "Come with me."  
Ten minutes later they were entering a small room. Second floor, fourteenth room on the left. The room was more so a cell. There was a small window and the walls were bare stone, as was the floor. There was a bed in the corner, a wardrobe, and a chair. A torch was on the wall. Other than that the room was completely empty. With all of them there it was quite crowded.  
Snape closed the door behind him.  
"What now?" Wormtail asked, sounding frightened. James rolled his eyes.  
"Now you'll wait in here," Snape said briskly, crossing over to the bed and pulling a piece of parchment from between the mattresses. James barely glimpsed it–it was a map–before Snape stuffed it in his pocket and crossed back over to the door, "and I'm going to find Potter."  
He didn't seem too thrilled about that task.  
They heard the lock click in the door.  
James sighed and sat on the bed. Sirius and Wormtail sat next to him and Snape sat on the chair. James scowled at him. Lily sat on the floor, straitening out her skirt before folding her slim legs under her. Moony pulled–a book from his robes.  
James laughed, "Moony! We're in life-threatening danger, and you're reading a book??"  
Moony ignored him.  
  
"So...Prongs..." Sirius said, knocking on the wall leisurely, "Why did you run?"  
James looked at him, eyebrow quirked, "Pardon me?"  
Lily snorted, and Sirius said, "The other night–in the forest...why did you run?"  
James had to think about that. Everyone in the room was quiet as he slowly said, "I had a dream...It was exactly like what happened–I ran toward the lake. In the dream I had a reason, but in real life I didn't. After I had the dream I wanted to know why I ran toward the lake...so that's what I did in real life..."  
Moony said, without looking up from his book, "Maybe it was a future sighting."  
"What?"  
"A future sighting–or at least something like it."  
"So we're all in this situation because of some stupid dream that Potter had?" Lily said, scowling.  
"I guess so." Moony answered  
"I wonder what Snape took with him." Ron wondered out loud.  
"It was a map." James said. "I saw it."  
"Just a map?" Sirius asked.  
"Shouldn't he know where everything is around here by now?" Hermione asked.  
"What if it's kind of like the Marau--" Wormtail began, but James interupted him.  
"Shut up, Wormtail." He indicated Snape, who was watching them all with little interest painted on his solemn face. "It might've been like it....Does he know about the map now?" He asked Hermione.  
Hermione nodded.  
They were all silent for a few minutes. Outside it was dark. Scattered stars shone through the window, seeming dimmed by the golden torchlight.  
"I want to go and find him." James said finally.  
They all looked at him. Silence.  
"You can't." Ron said.  
"Why not?"  
"Because Snape is already getting him. If you leave you'll just be risking your own life for nothing...and...and if we all just stay here, then maybe we can get out of here faster--"  
"Listen. I've known Snape for a long time and I seriously don't think he's reformed. I don't exactly care what Harry or Dumbledore think right now. Dumbledore isn't here, and for all we know Snape could be leading Harry and ourselves into death–or the other way around." He glanced at Snape, who's eyes seemed to be bulging out of his head, "He locked us in here. He doesn't trust us–why should we trust him?"  
With that said James turned toward the door in a determined manner, unlocked it with a more powerful charm that was closely related to the Alahomora Charm, and stepped out.  
"Wait!" Hermione and Ron said at the same time. They both stood up and joined him.  
Ron said, with an upward bound of his chin, "Harry's always saving us–we're really past our debt to him--" To which James laughed.  
  
Harry glanced down at the crumpled form of Bellatrix at his feet, then back up at Snape. He had to hand it to the man. Snape would put up a good fight in any duel.  
"Thanks." He said, rubbing his neck uncomfortably.  
Too bad that thanks was wasted on an unwilling receiver. Snape lifted an eyebrow, a sneer played around his mouth, and he muttered, "Come on, Potter."  
Harry followed him, feeling rather young and foolish.  
  
A/N: Well, I've decided to begin answering to people's reviews. It would be a nice thing to do, and I've been reading a lot of other people's stuff lately, and it always feels nice when they respond to me.  
  
To: black-cat-on-the-wall, dweem-angel, Silvercrystal77, phoebe666, MuGgLeNeT27, and Ness Lupin: I've finally finished working everything out, now all I have to do is actually write what I've planned....  
  
To: LJstagflower4e/JCtigerwolf4e: Wow, thanx! That's basically what I've been aiming for this whole time^_^ I believe that all of this insight is starting to get depressing though...what do you think?  
  
To: Makalani Astral: I know what you mean. Very misplaced was his appearance. I shouldn't have done that, but I had to begin letting on to a very important part to the end...  
  
To: Sariah Greenleaf: Sephiroth is a really evil dude. You cannot blame him for being himself. I am not perfect, and I'm okay with that...also...a lot of my grammatical and/or spelling mistakes can be blamed on my not going back and reading the chappie over before posting it...  
  
To: J.E.A.R.K. Potter: I'm glad u liked it–I'm getting afraid that all of this is getting too depressing... 


	26. Saving People Thing

A/N: Been working on my website, and now it's done (basically), so if you want to see it the address is on my user info page. -Yep. That's it. I guess it's okay, though I've been asked to put up pictures and graphics, but I don't know where to get those! Eurgh. I've also been playing this online multiplayer game. It's actually pretty good, if it goes a bit slow, but at least it's not text based. Confused yet? Go check it out. The address is www.runescape.com. Oh yeah! I almost forgot! I saw the preview for HP3 yesterday!!!! June 4th....whatever I saw about the movies...I can't help but feel excited!!!  
  
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: "SAVING PEOPLE THING"  
  
Harry glanced down at the crumpled form of Bellatrix at his feet, then back up at Snape. He had to hand it to the man. Snape would put up a good fight in any duel.  
"Thanks." He said, rubbing his neck uncomfortably.  
Too bad that thanks was wasted on an unwilling receiver. Snape lifted an eyebrow, a sneer played around his mouth, and he muttered, "Come on, Potter."  
Harry followed him, feeling rather young and foolish.  
  
Stepping into the quiet cell wasn't a great step above being completely ignored by a person that Harry didn't like. Perhaps this was because the cell was quiet. Unless James Potter was asleep, noise followed him naturally.  
Unfortunately, James Potter wasn't in this room.  
Snape stopped dead upon noticing this fact, and Harry ran painfully into him.  
"Where are they?" He whispered menacingly. Everyone seemed to be avoiding his eye, even his younger self. When nobody answered Snape asked again, "Where ARE they??" Only now the water was beginning to boil.  
Lily finally spoke up, glancing at Harry fearfully, then back up at Snape, "They...uh....they–I mean–Harry--"  
"They went to go find him." The younger Snape said, smirking widely. The man looked for a moment like he wouldn't mind sticking his wand up his younger self's left nostril, but he quickly mastered himself and swept for the door, saying, "I'm going to get them–if any of you leave this room I will personally--"  
There was a short flash of red in the middle of the room and a scrap of parchment glided pleasantly to the floor. Snape stopped and seemed to be thinking for a moment, then he stepped across the stone floor to pick up the note, reading it.  
"Well, Potter, it seems that some of your anserine behavior has rubbed off on your friends." He handed the parchment to Harry and stepped lightly out of the room, locking the door once again behind him.  
Harry stared after him for a moment before turning his eyes down to the scrap of parchment held in his fingers. He read allowed:  
"The Master wishes company with you. Don't take your time about coming. Nott just found Potter's friends and he was stupid enough to tell the Master that he saw Potter, but didn't go after him. The Dark Lord's not going to take lightly to slow runners."  
"It's signed by Lucius Malfoy."  
Something seemed to be working very hard in Harry's mind. He dropped the parchment and sat down right there on the floor, burying his head in his hands. They all stared at him silently.  
Lily spoke first, very quietly, "Harry....it...it's okay...we can...we can go...go get them--"  
"No we can't," Harry interrupted haltingly, "Snape's getting them. They'll be fine." He didn't sound convinced.  
"Well....we...we can....we can help...can't we?"  
Harry lifted his head from his fingers. A horrible scowl had plastered itself on his thin face and he stared at her silently. Then–  
–he laughed. One small chuckle, quiet, almost indistinct. It might have been something close to a whimper.  
"If only you knew what goes on through my head, Lily." He said. For a moment something unveiled itself in his eyes–a tremor, a whisper, of the pain and torture that he had felt. His anguished eyes flickered for a moment to Sirius, and he looked back at the woman who was his mother. "I can't go for them."  
Lily folded her arms across her chest, stepping forward and looming over the boy who would have been her son. "And why not?" She asked angrily.  
Harry's head sank back into his hands again. It was a ripple effect–his head, his neck, his shoulders, his back which curved around his too thin frame. Perhaps what everyone in that too-small room wondered at that moment was how someone could be so brave and strong, but at the same time seem small and frail.  
"You don't want to know." He said, quietly. Once again his eyes darted to where Sirius stood, silent.  
"I do want to know, why do you think I'm asking, Harry? Anyone with eyes can see that your want to go, so why not?"  
"Sirius." Harry said abruptly, and when Lily tried to speak up to prevent him changing the subject he cut her off again, "Do you want to know how you died?"  
Sirius seemed, for a moment, quite taken aback. He muttered, "Sure....I guess..."  
Harry was bringing something up from a deep well in his chest, like he was groping for something long forgotten and lost–or something long hidden away. Finally, after minutes of restless moments, he spoke, "Remember the prophecy?" They all nodded, "Well Voldemort doesn't." They all flinched slightly, "He's only heard part of it. Last June he lured me to the Hall of Prophecy–which is in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry–to collect the prophecy for him. Most of the wizarding world at that time were in disbelief that he had even come back--" At this Harry smiled bitterly, "–so he couldn't go there. He'd already tried to get someone else to steal it for him, but only the people who the prophecy has to do with can take it from the Hall of Prophecy.  
"Voldemort sent me an image–and though it wasn't real, I thought it was–of Sirius being tortured. This is older Sirius. Sirius was....well...I guess he was something like a dad to me. I thought the image–the dream–was real, and...well...I actually came to the Ministry....  
"Long story short," Harry muttered, almost to himself, chuckling bitterly again, "I was stupid enough to fall for Voldemort's trick. A load of Order of the Phoenix members came to save us–because Ron and Hermione and some others had come along–from the Death Eaters who were supposed to take the prophecy after I'd taken it off of the enchanted shelf in the Hall of Prophecy. With all of the members of the Order of the Phoenix was Sirius–and guess what?–he was the only one that died. All because I can't let anyone else do the saving, because I always have to be the hero."  
He drew in a long shaking breath. His eyes were red-rimmed and burning. He looked right at Lily and said, "That's why I'm not leaving. Hermione told me that I have a 'saving people thing'. And she's right. Four people I know have already died for me and I'm going to make sure that nobody ever dies for me again."  
Everyone was silent for a few minutes, avoiding Sirius's eye.  
"Who was the fourth?" Remus asked.  
For a moment Harry didn't understand, then, "Cedric Diggory. He was in school with me two years ago."  
"But...Harry." Lily said, "I know this sounds crazy....but...what if you're meant to leave right now? And...here's another thing. Snape's gone to get Ron and Hermione–not James." She looked incredulous at her own spur of insanity as she said, "Maybe we should go get him?....See if he's okay?"  
A slow smile spread across Harry's face, and in it was something like mischievousness.  
Too bad the moment didn't last–for a snort sounded in the room from where Snape was sitting on the only chair.  
"You're all such drama-freaks!" He said scathingly, a sound that was both rude and filled with laughter that was bubbling out of the greasy teen's mouth, "Ooo! So what? Black's dead, who cares? Potter here seems to be the only one blubbering about it. And his friends? Nothing but a mudblood and a muggle-lover!" Sirius let out a canine growl as Snape continued on nastily, "And as for Potter-Senior–HA!–the world would be better off without him!" He broke off into loud peals of laughter that echoed menacingly around the room, as if they were all laughing when only Snape was doing so, while everyone else clenched their fists, faces set.  
A moment of silence as Snape's laughter ended and everyone in the room was ready–to which Snape was apparently unaware.  
Lily stepped forward first, before all of the others who were ready to do their bit on "Snivellus", and ran her fist strait into his nose.  
Snape did not have time to retaliate or hit back. He could not have done either of those, because his nose was nearly broken and bleeding in an instant and he was on the floor, clutching it and howling in pain.  
Sirius and Wormtail roared with delight, both coming over to hug Lily happily as Snape clutched his nose on the floor. Harry and Moony stared. Lily wasn't celebrating, though, because she was telling Snape, "One more word about Muggles, Muggleborns, or James Potter and you'll get another display of Muggle dueling–come on Harry--"  
She freed herself from Sirius and Wormtail, pulled Harry to the door, undid the lock, and stepped out into the corridor with her nose in the air.  
  
"I've noticed, Severus. Do you believe me stupid? Did you think you were that clever?"  
"Pardon me, Master?" Severus said, mastering his own fear and hiding it securely in the back of his mind, along with all thoughts of Albus Dumbledore or the Order of the Phoenix, pushing them back and pressing forward memories of times when he had been with the Dark Lord, obeying only him.  
Voldemort looked at him wryly from his chair, his long white fingers stroking the black velvet. He knew.  
He finally knew. It had taken years. Years of working to keep himself secret. Years of switching his own loyalties–only to come to this point.  
There stood Lucius Malfoy, to Voldemort's right. His right hand man.  
Lord Voldemort stood up, moving to where Severus stood, and looking strait in his eyes with those horrible slit pupils.  
Severus only had one weapon against this. All he could do was feign the stupidity. Pretend. That was all it was. Just like he used to pretend that he was better than his old enemy, James.  
–he remembered something. His nose hurt–  
He couldn't control those memories, because they only jumped on him when he wasn't expecting them, when he was completely in control of everything else.  
"I've actually been suspecting this for a long time, Severus." Voldemort said, beginning to pace before him like a panther waiting patiently for its victim to come out of its shelter. Voldemort's robes swept out behind him, fluid and graceful. How could something be beautiful and horrifying at the same time?  
Voldemort did look somewhat disappointed. But at the same time Severus couldn't get past the clever arrogant look on his "master's" face. Voldemort was enjoying this.  
"You, who spend most of your time at Hogwarts....the best spy that I could ever ask for. It seems that this happening was something of a dream. How could I believe that you could still be loyal to me–and only me–if Dumbledore was hovering over your shoulder, hour after hour...day after day...  
"You couldn't have. You aren't. You are a sour man who has gone through the torment of those who follow Dumbledore. Yet you do not work against such treating. You are not what I thought you were, Severus. Do you understand what I am telling you?"  
Severus did not hesitate before saying, "I don't know what you're talking about, Master." Respectfully.  
Voldemort's lip curled upward ominously. He said, "Don't you?" His eyes darted toward Lucius Malfoy, standing off to the side. Lucius was oozing self satisfaction. He continued, then, "Now, now, now, Severus. You are not stupid. You are neither naive. I ask you, where have you been in the last hour? The last two hours?"  
Severus answered promptly, "Searching for the escaped prisoners. Lestrange told me about it." That was true, "I was in my cell when the message came for me to come here. I had forgotten my cloak and was about to look outside." Answer promptly. Everything must add up correctly. Don't stutter. Don't let your eyes wander. Keep your guard up. Good answer. It was a cold autumn night. He would have needed to go back for his cloak, if he hadn't already had it on, because he had gone outside, looking for Harry.  
Pause, then, "Really?" Voldemort said, intrigued. His eyes darted once more to Lucius and back again, "I will be short and to the point. You have lost my trust, as of now, Severus. My distrust, I might add, could easily be fatal. Return at least one of the prisoners to me before the night's over. Do I have to tell you the punishment if you don't consent?"  
Severus nodded, bowed, and left.  
  
Lily's muscles were still writhing, another outlet for her anger. Something to make her heart slow back down to normal, to make her arms stop shaking. If only Trixie had seen that! Trixie always said that Lily was really a tiger with a thin covering. Maybe she was right.  
With Harry alongside her, Lily finally began cooling down. Her muscles were still tight, but her breathing slowed and her heartbeat with it. The droplets of perspiration on her forehead were dry now, but she had no way to wash them off.  
Lily looked down at herself. Her uniform was mussed. There were scratches all over her arms, and a tear in her robe. Her hair, rustled, fell over her eyes and down her back meanly. She supposed that she looked a mess, but then again, Harry wasn't much better. He was worse. His hair had apparently been hereditary. Forever untidy. His robes draped over his shoulders loosely. There were dark shadows under his eyes. Lily wondered what he would look like if he smiled. She had yet to see him smile much.  
Right now, though, she thought she saw a small glint in his eye that might have been a smile.  
"I don't get it." He said, in a slightly amused tone.  
"Get what?"  
He put a finger to his lips and indicated for her to follow him into a side corridor while two Death Eaters passed. He waited for their footsteps to fade before saying, "Why did you hit him? It seemed like you hit him...because...because he...insulted James."  
Lily's eyes became wide.  
  
A/N: Hehe. Evil cliffies...  
  
TO:supernova8610-HAHAH! I update quick, don't I? *arrogance ensues*  
  
TO:Silvercrystal77-Did I answer all of your questions? Took me forever to find all of this out...  
  
TO:Ness Lupin-WHAT??? Whoever told u....grrr....it doesn't matter how much you weigh or how you look! Anyone can take karate!!! Grrrrr....  
  
TO:J.E.A.R.K.Potter-This shall be the first multi-chapter story that I'm ever going to finish–I will finish it...right?  
  
TO:Abluebird-Thanks for reviewing!  
  
TO:lily-green-101-*is currently having a finger cramp because she was typing so fast^_~*  
  
TO:LJstagflower4e/JCtigerwolf4e-I had to read through the whole story again, but not only to see if I'd even mentioned that James and Lily were married. I never did mention, because I guess I thought that was a given. Oops. My first mistake. Not a serious one, but please inform me if I do it again!  
  
TO:shadowphoniexstar-No offense taken, don't worry. I just didn't think of it before.  
  
TO:chibisuke-Thanks for reviewing! ^_^  
  
TO:phoebe666-I will update soon...but why do you feel left out?  
  
TO:Makalani Astral-First off, nice username. Second, I am currently getting extremely confused.. Please tell me if you spot any mistakes!  
  
TO:Beachan18-hehe. Thanks.  
  
TO:Sariah Greenleaf-It's all good. I just don't like putting everything in one perspective, because everything is different in everyone's eyes. 


	27. Get Dumbledore

A/N: Finals....finals.....finals......I hate finals!!! Two weeks left of school and I have a stupid final tomorrow, the next day, then on Tuesday, and I have two on Wednesday!!! Plus, I found out that I got a 50% on a timed writing essay in Language Arts, and for once I was trying really really hard!!! I can't believe it. But...whatever. I'm just...ashamed. That's all. I always get good grades in Language Arts..... Ugh...I don't feel like writing right now. I feel like working on my website some more, but my stepdad is on the phone right now while he takes up the PS2 and the TV...and all that he left for his children was the computer (which I greedily took). Oh, yeah! I saw the best preview for the third HP movie!!!! Yesssssss!!!!!!! Hermione doesn't just slap Malfoy, like in the book, she PUNCHES him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OOOOOOOOOHHHHH YEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Chapter Dedication: Not that it really has to do anything with Miss Ness Lupin at the moment, but she has helped me a lot with this story, even if she doesn't know it. Also, it was recently her bday, and since she lives hundreds of miles away from me I can't exactly give her any other present....  
  
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: GET DUMBLEDORE  
  
"I don't get it." He said, in a slightly amused tone.  
"Get what?"  
He put a finger to his lips and indicated for her to follow him into a side corridor while two Death Eaters passed. He waited for their footsteps to fade before saying, "Why did you hit him? It seemed like you hit him...because...because he...insulted James."  
Lily's eyes became wide.  
"What?" Harry asked, looking worried at the expression on her face.  
Lily was silent for a moment, utterly perplexed, then she stammered, "I...I hadn't realized....why did...?....what...?...."  
Harry looked sympathetic. Perhaps the small smile that appeared on his gaunt face jogged Lily back to reality, because she suddenly thrust her nose in the air snobbishly and said, "It was just a reaction. I just felt sorry for him, that's all."  
Harry laughed openly at this and Lily dropped her nose a few inches.  
"It was just the heat of the moment, you know, Harry?" She said, looking up at him as they walked along, "It just happened. Snape has been laughing at me for years. I guess I just got tired of it."  
Harry muttered something. "What?" Lily said.  
"I was just saying that I know what you mean."  
"How so?"  
"I get tired of other people who I don't like all the time."  
Lily laughed. "Oh, so have you ever beaten anyone before?"  
"A few times."  
Lily couldn't think of anything to say and they fell into silence again. Their footsteps echoed off the walls. Lily wondered why nobody heard them.  
"Harry," Lily said cautiously. Harry grunted slightly and Lily went on. "Why are you so quiet all the time?"  
Harry glanced at her, eyebrows raised. Lily instantly wished that she hadn't asked him. But he just sighed and looked down at the floor.  
"Nothing that I want to talk about." He muttered.  
"Why not?"  
"I don't know."  
Lily couldn't help but think that James had never in his whole life sounded like this. He had never felt anything near to depression. Harry was different. Maybe that was why Lily liked him more than she liked James. Harry was different. Anyone with a brain would be able to tell.  
But then, that was another thing. The reason why he was different was harder to process. Harry had gone through too much in life. He was in a position that he didn't want to be in. He dealt with what he didn't want to deal with, which was everything.  
Harry had grown up much too quickly.  
And his friends? The people that he lived around? The people that he talked to everyday, saw everyday, loved. They were not like him. They were like each other. Harry was not like them. Maybe at one time he had been. But they're lives were muffled compared to the gaping windy hole that Harry's life seemed to have become.  
At least that was what Lily thought.  
Now the positions were switched. Lily felt sympathy for him. Something that he didn't want, but she didn't know that.  
"Harry, you'll be fine."  
Lily didn't know why she'd said that. It had come out. Motherly instincts, she supposed. Something warmed in her chest. You'll be fine. That sounded nice.  
Lily remembered something. Her mother told her that same short sentence all of the time. She had told her that everything would be fine after Petunia's boyfriend, Vernon, had threatened her. She had told Lily that all would be well when her aunt had been sick. She had told Lily that she would be fine after she'd awoken from a nightmare...  
And Lily's mother was right. So why couldn't Lily be right? After all, even though Harry was sixteen and taller than her by at least three inches, Lily was still his mother. Everything would be fine.  
"You know Harry," Lily said after a minute of silence, "I don't think James is all that bad. I've learned to live with him."  
Harry smiled. "Well I'm happy for you...Mum..."  
How very strange it felt to hear that word.  
"So maybe there's hope for us, eh, Harry?" Harry nodded, Lily smiled mischievously and continued, "Just one question: Are you sure that You-Know- Who killed us? Might we have just murdered each other?"  
Harry laughed, "I don't think so."  
"Ah...well....if you come out of that dilemma then I'm sure marrying James Potter is worth it." Then Lily quickly changed the subject. Even on joking terms that prospect seemed not only impossible, but worthy of nightmares. "So...you really care about Hermione and Ron then?"  
"What?" Harry said, looking confusedly down at her, "Of course I do!"  
Lily snorted at the furious look on his face, "I'm just kidding, Harry! Settle down..."  
  
As Remus Lupin, in his cell, felt the full moon coming, Moony was beginning to feel its call. Goose bumps shivered up his arms.  
"Oof!" Harry grunted, surprised, as something red, gold, black, and very thin toppled into him from a stairway to their right.  
Lily smirked at the very disheveled James who was lying there on top of the equally disheveled Harry. If it hadn't been for James' Quidditch robes she wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between the two.  
"'Lo, Potter." Lily said, still smirking widely more as James helped himself up. Harry stood up next to him. James was an inch or two taller than Harry.  
"Hello." James said pleasantly, dusting his front and looking at them both.  
Harry wasn't smiling. He said, quietly, "Where are my friends?"  
The grin on James' face faded. He looked uncomfortable. "Come on," He muttered, beginning to walk down the corridor to where Lily and Harry had come from, "Let's get back to Snape's chamber. I'll tell you about it on the way."  
They began walking, and as they did, James told them what had happened in a whisper.  
"We were looking for you, Harry. We went down to the prisoners' cells first, then we came up and started looking through corridors. Somebody, a Death Eater, found us. I sort of heard him coming first, and I wanted to use the Invisibility cloak, but it was gone. I think I've lost it." He looked extremely strained over this news (unfortunately, though, Lily didn't care much). "Well, the Death Eater started chasing us. He stunned Ron and Hermione, and kept chasing after me for a bit. I hid in a room after a bit and he came along, dragging Hermione and Ron along after him. He was sort of talking to himself and them at the same time. He thought I was you, Harry, but said that he didn't have to look for you anymore. He said that Ron and Hermione were a good enough catch."  
James glanced sidelong at Harry, who was looking crestfallen.  
"We'll go find them." James said. And that was that.  
  
As soon as Severus entered the room his mind was made up. Go get Dumbledore. Go tell someone....that was all that he could do....the only thing that would work....  
He pushed open the door and nearly screamed in fury at the obvious loss of more people.  
Everyone in the room must've noticed his anger, because they didn't say anything and were smoothly avoiding his glare.  
He choked down his anger with difficulty and spoke in a shaking voice, "If any more of you leave this room I won't be there to save you. I'm going to get Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. Potter may not be much for wisdom, but he's particularly good at getting out of trouble. When he gets back tell him that if he doesn't stay he'll have a lifetime of detention which he won't be able to escape from. Do not go to get anyone else."  
  
REVIEW RESPONSES  
  
TO: Sapphire Riddle-I want you to say: Goobie-Goober-Ala-Kazam. Just kidding. Thanks Sapphire. I really appreciate it when you read my stories.  
  
TO: Silvercrystal77-Poor Snape....Anyway, the problem with this is that I keep forgetting that it's partly a romance! I put more adventure and angst, even though it's not even supposed to be angst. Do you want more romance?  
  
TO: Sariah Greenleaf-You like evil cliffies??? NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!  
  
TO: LJstagflower4e/JCtigerwolf4e-Strange thing is, I wrote that before I saw that particular trailer. All I ever saw in the trailers before a few days ago was Hermione holding her wand up to him...coincidence? I think not...(hehe). Of course you know that James and Lily were married. Not trying to offend or anything. But anyway, I fixed it, so there!!  
  
TO: jennifer-I'm bad at updating!!!! Bad bad bad....  
  
TO: ChantalWintersMoonWater- Wow. I don't know what to say first. I guess, first I must thank you for giving me one of the best reviews that I've ever received. Let's see...what else.....I'm not exactly the biggest fan of James and Lily...that was just where this story started. And I agree with you about Harry. I hate it when he's suddenly all-powerful, and nobody explains why. How stupid. I do know that Harry has several different personalities that sort of intermingle with the main one that he has. There is the very heroic part of him, the quiet side that he's been showing lately...many others...but Rowling has rarely shown his dark side. He does have an evil side. The closest that Rowling's ever gotten to showing readers that side was when Harry went after Bellatrix in the fifth book. He displayed great power that I'm not sure was "good power". Good reasons, I suppose, but bad intentions. (I particularly like that side of him, but...whatever) Before the fourth book came out I started about ten of my own ideas as to what is so special about Harry. There was one having to do with Lily, one having to do with a prophecy (it wasn't like the real one, though)...there was one in which Harry was related to Voldemort....I think I made up a family tree for that....The point is, I do know that Harry has a dark side. I don't think I'll display it in this story, but I write these stories all the time, and all that you told me in your review are already starting more ideas in my head....I'd really like to talk to u in another form than review responses, so maybe you could tell me ur email address?  
  
TO: Ness Lupin-NO FAIR! I'm over here all still fifteen until October!!! Grrrr.... P.S. Happy bday!  
  
TO: Makalani Astral-I'm getting confused with how to work out the story. I thought of all these things and it's still kind of hard to connect them. I agree whole-heartedly about the "Astral" part of your name, though it doesn't seem to be helping me in school much . And thank u for the compliment, although all of my description seems to be depressing the story a bit...  
  
TO: J.E.A.R.K.Potter-Thanks much, much.  
  
TO: supernova8610-Thanks for reviewing!  
  
TO: krazykiwikatie-Thanks for reviewing, and I'm sure that after my stupid final exams I will be able to update without guilt 


	28. Take Matters Into Your Hands

_A/N: I noticed that that last chapter was kinda short–I'm sooooo sorry! I didn't mean to, and I didn't even notice because a whole lot of the page was taken up by review answers!!! Okay, I'll take up less room with the review responses now, k? Also, I'm sorry for not posting for what....the last two or three months? I'll try to make up for it today. And please, everyone, no more flames talking about the fact that I haven't updated for so long. I was at my dad's for the summer! He doesn't have a computer!_

_One more note: if I ever have a chapter after this that isn't at least seven pages on my writing program, someone must slap me immediately. I still have tons of the story left and I've already got almost thirty chapters!!!! Either I have to redo the story to merge chappies or I have to make longer ones. I have decided on the latter._

**CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: TAKE MATTERS INTO YOUR HANDS**

As soon as Severus entered the room his mind was made up. Go get Dumbledore. Go tell someone....that was all that he could do....the only thing that would work....

He pushed open the door and nearly screamed in fury at the obvious loss of more people.

Everyone in the room must've noticed his anger, because they didn't say anything and were smoothly avoiding his glare.

He choked down his anger with difficulty and spoke in a shaking voice, "If any more of you leave this room I won't be there to save you. I'm going to get Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. Potter may not be much for wisdom, but he's particularly good at getting out of trouble. When he gets back tell him that if he doesn't stay he'll have a lifetime of detention which he won't be able to escape from. Do not go to get anyone else."

"Look what Potter's gotten us into!" Snape muttered furiously.

Moony seemed to be thinking on the same level. "Which one?" He asked quietly.

They were spared the response, though, when the door opened (after a click resounded, signaling an unlocking charm) to admit first Harry, then James, and finally Lily. Harry looked rather harassed and anxious.

"How nice of you to join us." Snape snarled viciously. Sirius scowled at him, folding his arms across his chest.

"Did–er–Did anything happen while we were gone?" James asked in an offhand, cheerful sort of voice.

"While you were gone? Actually, yes." Snape began ranting, standing up as he did so, "First we all found out that you were gone and that your son's--" He glanced at Harry before continuing, "–friends have been caught by Death Eaters--"

"So what happened to your nose, Snape?" James interrupted, his eyes flashing. He'd easily spotted the bloody stream underneath it.

"A nosebleed, if you must know P--"

But Sirius was laughing now and he pointed at Snape with a shaking hand, because he was laughing so hard, and spoke in loud hoots, "He's the biggest liar....you should've seen....Lily and Harry....they decided to go....and Snape went in a rant about you....and Lily....she...." Another burst of laughter escaped Sirius' mouth, now joined by Wormtail and a guiltily chuckling Harry. "...she hit him right in the nose--"

"Wow, Lily," James began, obviously having trouble keeping the smirk off his face, "I never knew you cared."

Then James did something that surprised them all. He let the subject go. Usually he would be gloating in Snape's face and laughing in Lily's, but he swiftly let the subject go and instead went to more important matters.

"Well what happened after they left?"

Sirius goggled at him. Snape continued, "My older self–I–walked in saying that I was going to go get Dumbledore. That's about it."

"So what about Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked in a small voice.

"I don't know, don't ask me." Snape said, leaning back in his seat.

"Well, Harry," Lily said smiling, "It looks like we aren't quite through."

Harry nodded, smiling gratefully.

"Hey Sirius?" James said, with a grunt from Sirius who was now sitting once again on the bed, rubbing his head as though he had a headache.

"Yeah?"

"Why didn't anyone think to apparate out of here?"

Before Sirius could answer (with a look of disbelief and happiness on his face) Moony spoke up, "I did."

James turned to him, as did every other eye in the room, "Well?"

"No luck, Jamesie."

"....why?"

"I guess this place is a bit like Hogwarts–only more like a psychiatric institute than a school--" When no one laughed he coughed and continued. "–you can't apparate or disapparate here."

There was silence in the small room for a moment.

"When is old Snape supposed to be back?" James asked.

"He didn't say." Wormtail answered, sounding frightened.

"Then Harry and I are going to go get Ron and Hermione." Lily said resolutely.

"Well you'd better hurry, because if Snape comes back before you do, he told us to tell Harry that he'd have a year of detention...or...something along those lines." Moony said, smirking slightly.

A fly buzzed into the room through the window. They all watched it quietly before James said, "Then let's get going, Harry."

"What?" Lily said, surprised, "No, no, no! You're not coming, James! It's Harry and I. Not you. You're staying here. Besides, you're more trouble than you're worth--"

"I can go wherever I want to go, Evans--"

"Hey, wait, you three get all the action, I want to come--"

"We might as well all go," Harry said loudly, cutting over everyone, "since no one wants to stay."

Everyone stared at him.

"How do you know that no one will get killed or hurt?" Sirius asked.

"I would think that would be obvious. You all lived until adulthood, right? So I can safely say that none of you will die tonight."

Harry's spur of recklessness seemed to have called some sense to their minds.

"But what about what Snape said?" James asked, eyes wide.

Harry smiled slightly and ignored the question. "Let's just put it this way. You all seem to want to go, and...if you don't, you don't. That's fine with me. I don't know how long Snape will take in getting the Order. So maybe we ought to fend for ourselves until then. We can try to get out on our own. And if you all want to leave so badly, I'm sure you will. I'm not an adult, so I have no control over you--"

But Harry stopped, as something seemed to come to his mind.

He tried to speak, and had to lick his lips before trying again. His eyes betrayed fear as he said, "Never mind. I'll go and get Ron and Hermione. Please...everyone stay here."

Everyone stared, dumbstruck, as he left.

"What in bloody Hell was that?" James muttered.

"Beats me." Wormtail said, scowling at the door that stood innocently closed.

"I still want to go." James muttered bluntly. Sirius nodded. Lily looked at the pair almost hopefully.

"Then why don't we go?" Wormtail asked.

"Harry asked us not to...." James said.

"I think he's keeping something from us." Snape said crudely. James glanced at him.

Moony finally spoke, "We can't go. Leaving might just get us into more trouble with all of these Death Eaters who are looking for us. Obviously Mr. Snape knows what he is doing. Harry's already gone, sure, but is that any reason to follow him?"

James looked at him warmly, "You always have to be the voice of reason, don't you, Moony. Reasoning, polite, and just. Our angel."

He looked at the door one last time, then seemed to make up his mind. Moony's "voice of reason" hadn't changed his resolve at all.

"I'm not much for standing around while everyone else does the work. And...well...I still don't trust Snape. I'm never going to trust Snape. I don't want to put my life in his hands. I'm leaving." James said all of this very quietly and quickly. He then looked around and asked, "Who wants to come?"

After a moment of looking at each other as if for reassurance everyone nodded, even Snape.

"We should get into groups." Sirius said.

"Right," James said happily, his sudden mood swings leading him toward cheer, "Since Moony over here seems to get along so well with the loser over there in the corner," Here he indicated Snape, "They can pair up. Wormtail and Sirius because we need someone to watch after Wormtail. Ah, and I guess that means Evans and I get to be together, eh?" He smiled roguishly. Lily scowled, but didn't say anything.

_haha. I know what you were all thinking right there. I'm so mean_

REVIEW RESPONSES

Mystery Quill: Ah! Yes, I shall try to read your fics. I'm always looking for stuff to read....

J.E.A.R.K. Potter: thanks, I'm sorry for taking so long!

I-want-to-fly: I'll do my best, thanx.

Makalani Astral: Indeed it is a depressing topic. I wasn't quite sure how to make them all feel about each other. This is where my weird angsty writing style comes from. As for your second review, I think you're getting a bit testy, aye? I'm sorry for taking so long....

LJstagflower4e: I guess this is good for my plans on becoming a novelist, aye?

Crazy4padfoot: sniffs poor Harry. I'll do my best to write a lot from now until next summer (hopefully by then I won't be writing this particular story anymore)

krazykiwikatie: Thanks!

Jennifer: I'm sorry for not updating before....

supernova8610: thank you for the support, math didn't go good, though. Sorry for not updating....

Amitra DayMoonWater: Thanks for writing the long review in the first place. I only repaid you. Funny, people keep calling me a traveling dictionary and other things along those lines. I think that's just another way for them to call me weird and nerdy. Thanks for the email address. I have to tell you about this ezboard place that I've suddenly gotten addicted to...

Ness Lupin: I'm finally in driver's ed!!!!!

Sariah Greenleaf: Hurry up and write your novelization of FF!! I want to read it!!!!!

Diabla666: Well, your review thoroughly freaked me out. I had to ask about three friends to read the whole story over to see if I'd made a mistake, and I had to reread the story and the summary that I made about four times. I am positive at this moment that there aren't multiple numbers of the characters running around. I do NOT want to explain it, so please please please don't make me do so....

Nathalie17: Thanks.

Rory: Thanks for giving a good review . There will be romance in later chapters, although I don't know how much....

pointeblnk-1: You'll see winks

o.O.o.O.pudley wudlie.O.o.O.o: I'm sorry for short chapters. To explain myself on that aspect would be to explain my whole personality, and I'm sure you don't want to sit around for that.

Tigris T Draconis: Wow, evilness. I'll try not to stop in the middle, k? I have it all planned, I just need to write it out...

morning lily: As far as I can perceive, James is a little fickle and moody, I just had to use that...

She-Who-Snogs-Weasly-Boys: Thanks for reviewing.

hiei's lil dragon: Woah, try to be a bit more polite, or don't read my story and stick to Yuyu Hakusho, k?

Silvercrystal77: Thanks, I'll do my best.

kelchu963626: tsk, tsk. You have to read the fifth book!


	29. Hidden Thoughts

_A/N: Since I hate having to take up the chapter with review responses, I've decided that only if you write something that I feel I have to reply to, will I write a response. _

_Once again, I barely know what I'm writing. I am utterly sorry if the story seems to be...erm...getting bad. I'm just...not interested in it anymore. I'll finish it, though..._

_Oh, yeah, one more thing. I've been rping a lot lately, so if it says "Lyra" anywhere in the story, it's supposed to be "Lily"..._

–x–x--

**CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: HIDDEN THOUGHTS**

After a moment of looking at each other as if for reassurance everyone nodded, even Snape.

"We should get into groups." Sirius said.

"Right," James said happily, his sudden mood swings leading him toward cheer, "Since Moony over here seems to get along so well with the loser over there in the corner," Here he indicated Snape, "They can pair up. Wormtail and Sirius because we need someone to watch after Wormtail. Ah, and I guess that means Evans and I get to be together, eh?" He smiled roguishly. Lily scowled, but didn't say anything.

–x–x–

Walking alone with Lily wasn't something that she would have volunteered for, James knew. She was too proper and prim to be around a messy, bad-mannered boy like him. He didn't much care...or at least he hadn't. But with too much silence James felt rather....disgruntled.

He'd tried to walk alongside her, but she kept speeding up until they were both on the verge of running. After that, James had let himself fall back. He didn't mind. The back view was as good as the front view. He wondered if she knew that he was enjoying himself as she led the way. Usually he would assert himself and make sure that if he wasn't in the front, he was at least on the side. But that was with Sirius or Moony. They weren't much for looks–at least in James' opinion.

Still, he didn't like being in the silence. All he could hear were their own footsteps and from somewhere far off a dog was howling. It wasn't Moony or Sirius, of course. He knew their howls like the back of his hand. His footsteps, he noticed then, might attract the attention of a Death Eater. They were looking for him, after all.

The further they walked the more James noticed their footfalls. It came to the point that James was almost tiptoeing–

Lily chuckled quietly as James tiptoed along behind her. She looked at him with a grin then kept walking. But her laughter broke James' spell and he felt his face go red as he eased back into normality. He even went as far as to walk up beside her. He was surprised when she didn't speed up to get away from him.

James looked sideways at her face, and saw a little frown between her eyebrows. Going through the Lily files in his brain James remembered that she frowned when she was thinking.

"What are you thinking?"

Immediately her eyes lost their trance look and came back into focus. Her little frown turned into a scowl. She started walking quickly. James almost laughed.

"Come on! You can tell--"

"I don't have to tell you anything, Potter. It's none of your business."

"I'll bet it is, you're just too _shy _to say."

Lily abruptly stopped and James's shoulder careened into hers. Rubbing her shoulder, Lily looked up at him defiantly. "How would _you_ know."

James' mood swung toward seriousness, mimicking hers. "Why does it matter? It's not like you would believe me anyway."

She knew what he was talking about. "You know what happened, James." She said.

"Apparently I don't." James answered rudely.

They stared at each other for a moment. James vaguely thought about how soft her lips looked, but stopped himself. Now was not the time to be snogging in the Dark Fortress corridors. Or the time to be slapped.

Lily's glare faltered. "How would you not know?" She asked quietly.

"I don't, Lily, alright?" James muttered furiously, "I don't remembered kissing you. I was with Sirius when it happened. I'm positive. You could give me veritaserum and you would still come up with the same answer--"

Lily interrupted him, "I don't believe you."

"Then so be it!" James said loudly. He started walking again, as fast as he could without actually running. Lily caught up with him.

"Then what will we do?" She asked rudely, panting as she tried to keep up.

"We'll agree to disagree."

He heard her footsteps stop momentarily, then she hurried toward him again. By now he was slowing down.

"Fine."

They walked in silence for a few minutes. Both walked at normal speed now. James no longer felt like talking to her or looking at her. Even if he was down to a normal walking speed, James was still fuming.

Finally, after so long, Lily spoke, "Why did I ever marry you?"

James stopped, his eyes flashing furiously, pulling her to a stop with him he yelled, "AND WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME??"

"Don't yell!" Lily said, trying to pry his fingers off her arm.

He gave off a bit, but wouldn't let go. Planting his feet, he stood ready to wait for an answer all day. Unfortunately he wasn't able to wait all day, because as soon as he decided on the matter they heard Death Eaters walking their way. James pulled Lily into the nearest room. Thankfully it was empty. He stood at the door, listening, until the Death Eaters passed, then pulled Lily along with him as he walked out.

Lily wrenched her arm away from James after a few moments of trying. He stopped and looked down at her, breathing heavily.

"Huh?" James asked, following her gaze with his face every time she tried to look away. "What's the big problem with me?" His voice was quiet and cold.

"I hate you, James." Lily said, seriously.

Hurt filled his eyes. His lip twitched into a scowl. He began walking again.

"You married me." He said when she'd caught up with him again.

"I don't know what went through my mind to make me do that." Lily said.

"So you regret it?"

"The only thing good that came out of our so called marriage is Harry."

"Harry?" James gave her a startled look, which she didn't see because she wasn't looking.

"Yes, Harry. He might look like you, but I can proudly say that he acts absolutely nothing like you."

"_Right_." James said sarcastically. He couldn't agree with her.

She looked at him ruefully.

"In any case, the fact that we got married and died trying to save Harry can't be forgotten about. There must have been something there." James said resolutely.

"I don't care if there was anything there, James. But for now, we might as well call it a truce–since we're stuck together."

James smiled cheerfully.

–x–x–

The dungeons of a place that was already cold and frightening didn't make Harry feel any better. Above ground this place was ugly–below ground it was indescribable. He could barely see–but anything he could see was dirty and gray and sad. He felt sorry for the walls.

Sometimes Harry wondered if his friends would do these things for him. Would they save him under any circumstances if he were in danger? Would they leave the safe room where Snape had told them to stay, in a hostile fortress, to go looking for him?

Why would they, Harry sometimes thought. What was so great about him that they should worry about saving him for. Of course, he wasn't the one who helped them through all their problems despite them pushing away. He didn't...well...there were a lot of things that Harry didn't do for them that he really should.

Guilt washed over him. He should've....

If it weren't for him, they wouldn't even be in this situation. That was true. Harry hated being the reason for all their troubles.

Sighing inwardly, Harry walked silently down the dungeon corridor...

–x–x–

_Why did I agree to this..._Sirius thought for what seemed like the thousandth time. He could have been safe and breathing on a perfectly normal level right now...but _nooo..._

Wormtail, next to him, was breathing harder. He wasn't chubby for no reason at all. Even if Sirius wasn't in Quidditch, he liked to keep himself in shape. Good decision, too. Breathing too loudly in these corridors after just outrunning another group of Death Eaters couldn't be good.

Wormtail irritated Sirius. The kid was being a bit too dramatic. He didn't say anything, though. No reason to talk in a scary corridor when a couple of murderous Death Eaters were on your tail.

Sirius supposed that they'd lost the pack of Death Eaters, so he slowed down considerably, to let Wormtail catch his breath.

He hadn't had much time to actually look at this place before. Now that Sirius actually saw it, it wasn't too bad. The dungeons weren't too pretty, but the main part of the fortress (this part) wasn't too shabby. He had to admit it, at least to himself.

Due to the fact that they most likely weren't going to escape anywhere while a couple hundred Dark Wizards were after them, as Sirius had soon found out was the case, there probably wasn't much chance of them escaping unless someone came with help. In the meantime, Sirius couldn't remember where Snape's chamber was. If he was correct, no one else would remember–except for Moony, of course. But Moony wasn't there. Sirius had to keep reminding himself that he'd been stuck with the dweeb.

As soon as this thought crossed his mind he heard footsteps to his left, where their own corridor forked off into another.

"More damned Death Eaters..." Sirius muttered, pulling out his want and standing in front of Wormtail. The kid was useless.

"Run, Wormtail." Sirius said, "I'll take care of them" Easier to take out his own frustration on these guys than on someone who could barely stand up for himself.

Twenty minutes later he was grumbling at how easy they had been to get rid of. Ole Voldie really had to find himself some better minions. Of course, he had been given an advantage. He'd seen them first. But still...

Sirius, still grumbling, ran to catch up with Wormtail.

–x–x–

Sometimes he wondered why Harry wasn't learning quicker. He was wondering at this very moment. Harry's 'training' had done nothing if not prove that everything was much harder than anyone had thought. Except, perhaps, for Harry. Harry knew exactly what he was facing.

Albus had, for once, left his secluded quarters. At times it could become a bit too stuffy for him to stand.

Of course, pacing didn't help. He was doing the exact same thing out here in a quiet corridor at midnight that he would've been doing in his office.

_Where is Severus...?_

–x–x–

_a/n: I was thinking about going on...but something...interesting...is going to happen and I don't want to spoil it now . Lol. See you all next chappie!_

–_x–x– _

**REVIEW RESPONSES**

**(Reminder: As I said above: I'm not going to respond to reviews anymore unless I actually have something to say. Don't want to take up the whole chapter with review responses, no da!)**

**Ness Lupin: **Trying to work on it all some more. I'll do my best!! hands out cookies

**Novinha Black: **What parts weren't right?? TELL ME!!!


	30. Wormtail the Rat

_A/N: Hi! I love the story right now! I'm going to love this chappie!!!_ _I know I'm getting weird, alright? Bear with me. Some of my stuff is a bit.....duh...and I'm glad that everyone (coughs and points to select people) is sooo intelligent and sees through my dumb mistakes. Correct me. :p_

–x–x–

**CHAPTER THIRTY: WORMTAIL THE RAT**

Sometimes he wondered why Harry wasn't learning quicker. He was wondering at this very moment. Harry's 'training' had done nothing if not prove that everything was much harder than anyone had thought. Except, perhaps, for Harry. Harry knew exactly what he was facing.

Albus had, for once, left his secluded quarters. At times it could become a bit too stuffy for him to stand.

Of course, pacing didn't help. He was doing the exact same thing out here in a quiet corridor at midnight that he would've been doing in his office.

_Where is Severus...?_

–x–x–

His sides were splitting. Wormtail once again chastised himself for being so inactive. Maybe if he were a bit more active...like James...he wouldn't be completely out of–

his mind. Oh, never mind. He wasn't out of his mind. He'd just been pulled off into another corridor by–

a cloak! A black cloak and a mask over what must be a hideous gruesome face and murderous eyes. His mother had always said how Death Eaters had eyes like–

food. His stomach growled. He was sure the short man could certainly hear it. How could be thinking of food right–

then the man pulled his mask off.

Wormtail's jaw dropped. His heart skipped a beat. Any thoughts of food were immediately swept away and he felt his knees quivering. His breath shortened. His eyes grew wide. If a wall hadn't been next to him he would have fallen over.

–x–x–

Harry had found Ron and Hermione. Finally.

It must be them. It _had_ to be them. This was the last dungeon.

Heart leaping with joy, Harry jumped into a run toward the locked door with the bars on the bottom. He almost missed the cloaked shadows arriving.

Long, sweeping cloaks that glided slowly along the floor toward him. Scabby grey-greenish hands that looked more like grotesque spidersthan anything else.

And the breath. The bone-chilling, rattling, sucking breath. Something that sounded like someone dying. Arms crawled with goose bumps at the noise and feeling of it. Life taking, happiness ending breath. Something that could take everything you ever wanted or loved away from you and keep it locked away only to leave the darkest fears and hatred-filled memories that you never wanted to remember.

Harry could feel his heart being squished in his chest by those hands. He could feel that breath stopping his lungs. Limbs suddenly jumping up in bumps. Dark fog filled his vision.

Dementors.

_It's getting worse..._

He could still see. Feeling as if things were moving much too slowly, Harry slipped his trembling fingers in his pocket, dread covering his heart like a sheet of ice.

"_Sirius!" He was screaming, over and over again..._

"Expecto..." He said. "Expecto...."

Someone else was speaking, though. It wasn't in the tainted memory. It came from the door.

"Harry! Say it! Expecto Patronum! Say it!"

Now another voice joined the first. "Come on!"

He remembered. Lupin was holding him back as he screamed. At the same time he was saying the words as Hermione and Ron yelled at him, despairingly.

"_Expecto Patronum!_"

The dementors were gone in a flash of white fur. Prongs chased them down the corridor until he was completely out of sight, leaving the corridor in the dark again.

Harry sat down on the floor right there, exhausted. Hermione and Ron were looking at him quietly while he collected his thoughts. He sniffed quietly, trying to hold back tears.

"Alright." He said quietly, "Let's get you out of this..."

Crawling forward, Harry inspected the doorway. He tried all of the unlocking charms that he knew. He tried a few other spells...

Ron and Hermione were looking at him guiltily.

"I can't get it." Harry said.

"It's all right." Hermione whispered. There was a smudge of dirt on her cheek.

"No it isn't."

"What'll we do?" Ron asked.

Harry thought for a moment. He then stood up, standing on shaky legs.

"I need to get help." He looked down at them again. For once, he couldn't save them. It was a depressing thought. "I'll come back."

–x–x–

Wormtail was looking at himself. He couldn't mistake himself, even now. The man was skinny, though, and rather unhealthy looking. His hair was thinning out on top. He looked, like everyone else in this place, rather deprived of love. Wormtail hadn't felt sorry for anyone else...he didn't even feel sorry for himself.

The man stared at him. The look on his face was unreadable.

They'd been standing like this for at least a full minute. It was getting uncomfortable. Wormtail was no longer short of breath. The silence was buzzing in his head.

They both squirmed at the same time.

Finally, Wormtail's older self spoke. "They didn't tell you," His voice was lower, more grating. It still squeaked, "did they?"

Wormtail shook his head. He couldn't have spoken if he'd tried.

The man looked even more uncomfortable. One silver hand went up to rub a spot on an arm gingerly. Wormtail stared at the silver hand. The man noticed, and quickly plunged the hand into a pocket. Wormtail almost gloated.

"They didn't tell you. Alright." He thought for a moment. "You need to know. There are some things..." He shook his head. Wormtail wondered if he'd gone a bit mad over his time as a Death Eater.

The man stepped past him, looked through the corridors and began speaking in a rapid whisper.

"I'm a Death Eater--"

Wormtail snorted. The man gave him a cold glare before going on, "As you can see. I joined the Dark Lord a long time ago and I'm telling you now that it isn't worth it. If I could change things..." He blinked and shook his head, "but that's what I'm trying to do, if you'll listen to me."

"Are you going to tell me why no one would say this?" Wormtail asked.

He could tell that his older self disliked him almost as much as Wormtail disliked him. "I suppose it was because they didn't want you to know. They don't want you to turn out like you will." He smiled ruefully, "They probably didn't want James and Sirius to find out either."

"What's this have to do with _them_?" Wormtail asked, spitting out the word 'them'.

"Everything."

Wormtail stood back, looking suspicious as he crossed his arms on his chest. It was a trick that he'd learned at one point or another from James. Something that never failed to make an opponent uneasy.

It didn't work here, however. His older self just laughed, the wrinkles around his eyes folding as a short, crisp chuckle escaped his dry lips.

"Don't even try it. I'm trying to help you here. If you don't listen to me, you'll end up being exactly the same."

Wormtail hadn't thought about this, of course. Too focused was he on making an impression...on none other than himself. He let his arms fall to his sides and listened.

The man told him about his past. He'd joined You-Know-Who soon after he was inducted into the Order of the Phoenix with James, Sirius, and Remus. The man was powerful, and he had promised a sweet revenge on Wormtail's so-called 'friends'. That was probably what had reeled him in. Revenge. The word was so sweet (As Wormtail listened he reminded himself that he hated his friends to no end. That must have been the reason.), and it left a sweet tang in his mind just thinking about it.

His older self then told him something else. It was quite strange to be listening to this, but it must be true. He, Wormtail–the little chubby boy of the gang–had been Voldemort's spy into the Order. Voldemort had learned about the Prophecy and had set out to kill Harry Potter...and Wormtail had been the one to deliver him to his master. Wormtail thought that the sweetness had somehow turned bitter now. Harry had lived. His master had gone.

But at least James and Lily had died. Maybe then they would respect him as one equal to them.

It got better (or worse, whoever's perspective you took on the matter) Sirius was blamed for it. He had been James' secret keeper. They'd changed because Sirius thought it would be good tact. Apparently they'd been wrong.

That only left Remus. Good, sweet Remus. The only one who was somewhat a friend. It wasn't as if he'd been left out–his friends were gone and he'd been left alone. The lone werewolf.

Wormtail was swimming in gold at the end of it, but his older self was not finished. "Are you listening to me? Of course you're not. You're too caught up in your hatred...." Now Wormtail looked at him again. The man continued, "I'm telling you now, the hatred will end. You'll forgive them and you'll only feel guilt for the rest of your life under a madman," (He shivered when he said this.) "Don't you realize, Peter? This is your chance! You can escape from it! Everyone can live and everything will be fine...please listen to me. I know that you're not going to remember this. I know you won't. But maybe if you try--"

They suddenly heard loud footsteps coming close and Sirius' yelling, "Wormtail! Wormtail, where are you?"

Peter Pettigrew gave the boy a meaningful look as he pulled his mask back on and swept off into the shadows.

–x–x–

Sirius was trying to keep his voice steady as he yelled for Wormtail, who he was sure could hear him. He was trying to keep himself from crying his eyes out or running forward to slam his fist right into the rat's face–or both–as he saw him. The little disgusting rat who had murdered his best friend was standing there, alone and calm, as Sirius walked toward him.

Sirius struggled to hold his voice steady as he asked, "You okay?"(_you slimy rat, I'm going to kill you–_) and Wormtail just nodded, a slight smile in his eyes.

–x–x–

_a/n: I have to leave gaps between these dramatic scenes. The next one includes James and Lily and I decided that this is a good place to leave off anyway. CU!_

_--I've also decided not to respond to flames. Keep getting flames from, strangely enough, anonymous reviewers. ::makes evil connections with flames and anonymous reviews:: but I really shouldn't say anything because I still get a number of nice anonymous reviews..._

**REVIEW RESPONSES**

**supernova8610:** Did I take too long?? Getting excited now, so I think I'll be updating a lot. Ty!

**Sariah Greenleaf: **You should send me some piccies of Halloween! I want to seeeee!

**Ziptango:**First time someone's told me that the author notes are distracting, actually. Just skip over them if you must, but I'm warning you that sometimes they do have important stuff in them...ty for reviewing–I look forward to reading 'em!

**Makalani Astral: **I don't know if we know who those Death Eaters were. Just more stuff that I had to stick into things. They weren't important, if that's what you meant...

**Pleione: **lol did you find out for yourself?

**Pottersgrl: **::back away:: Okay! Anyway, some fun stuff is happening right now, so I think I'll be fine. Ty for reviewing!

**Crystal Travelpiece: **Woah, woah, woah. You think I update fast???? Wow. First time anyone has said that ::looks at you strangely before walking off::

–x–x–

_As always, thank you to everyone else who reviewed. Please come back and review some more (boy and I desperate or what? Lol)!_


	31. A Debt Repaid

_A/N: writing...too fast...must slow...down....lol. I'll shut up now. I know I put some people through torture during the summer. Maybe I'll make up for it now..._

–x–x–

**CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: A DEBT REPAID**

Sirius was trying to keep his voice steady as he yelled for Wormtail, who he was sure could hear him. He was trying to keep himself from crying his eyes out or running forward to slam his fist right into the rat's face–or both–as he saw him. The little disgusting rat who had murdered his best friend was standing there, alone and calm, as Sirius walked toward him.

Sirius struggled to hold his voice steady as he asked, "You okay?"(_you slimy rat, I'm going to kill you–_) and Wormtail just nodded, a slight smile in his eyes.

–x–x–

They were looking for Harry. They hadn't spoken for the last twenty minutes at least, as neither of them were in a good mood anymore. Speaking to each other–even now after their "truce"–was still a bit of a struggle when the want to be kind came along.

As they walked, their footsteps reverberating off the walls ominously, James contemplated over why he liked Lily. His first and foremost thought was, of course, that she was beautiful. He felt bad over that, but he had to be truthful. To say that he didn't look at her and feel his stomach roll over just watching her hair bounce and her eyes narrow (at him) would be a lie. James didn't only like her looks. He would be thoroughly disgusted with himself if he did. He did like her personality. The way that she always snapped at him was hilarious–something that never failed to heighten his spirits–because even a scrap of recognition from Lily Evans was enough for him. Sometimes she would show a very rare kindness to him and it was just as lovely as anything else. It was common knowledge to anyone who wanted to know that Lily hated James. Apparently she was going to change her mind, but for now it was the plain truth.

She was in front of him as they walked. As usual, her hair bounced as she walked. James smiled to himself, knowing that he was never going to tell Lily how often he watched her hair bounce like that...

She stopped abruptly and James ran right into her backside (not as if he was _mad_ or anything). She turned around and pushed him away from her before looking back at the reason why she'd stopped.

In front of them was a silver mirror. Snakes curved around the frame intricately. Here and there little round emerald gems were set into the silver metal. It looked to be extremely old, not that they could see it well in the dim light.

Their reflections were almost as interesting as the mirror. James almost cringed at how dirty he looked. There was a smudge on his nose. He reached up and tried to ruffle his rather greasy and dirty hair, but it stayed flat. His Quidditch robes–which he still had–were getting frayed. Lily was just as bad. Her hair was in a better state than his, but her robes were also ripped in certain places. Her face was dirty.

Something about them had changed. Searching his own face, James couldn't find anything, but he knew that his reflection now was different than the one he'd seen a week ago.

"We're old, James." Lily said quietly.

And she was right.

"This is depressing." James muttered.

Lily smiled and did something that she'd never done before. She leaned on James. He felt as old as Dumbledore.

Feeling uncomfortable, James looked back in the mirror. Shadows were deceiving. Maybe it was just the mirror, but he thought he saw something–or somethings-- moving behind them. His heart jumped. James looked behind him. No one was there.

Lily was looking down at the floor. He watched a tear fall from her closed eyelids, catching on her eyelashes before falling to the floor.

He looked back at the mirror and let his reflexes take over immediately.

He ducked, pulling Lily with him, just as the spell was cast. It went over their heads and shattered the mirror.

James stood up, shaking, pulling Lily with him, and turned around.

Before he could even comprehend that the most infamous wizard of all time stood in front of him, bearing a wand, James's arms were pulled out from behind him. The wand that he'd been pulling from his pocket clattered to the stone floor as someone laughed behind him, holding his arms in such a manner that it pained him to move an inch. He barely noticed though. He gaped. Voldemort's eyes were narrowed down on James. Standing, he posed everything that James could even dream of fearing. At over six feet, skeletally thing, and deadly, Voldemort was fear itself.

He sent a spell at Lily. His wand and his mouth moved so quickly that James couldn't have stopped it even if it were sent at him. Lily only barely moved out of the way, but even before she was completely done with her own maneuver, Voldemort sent another spell that she couldn't dodge. She screamed as it hit her upper arm, ripping her sleeve as it ripped through her flesh. James almost screamed with her, as frightened as he was, and found strength enough to pull himself up and kick backwards at an area where, if the Death Eater was male (which he most likely was), would be very painful.

The Death Eater gave a startled cry and his arms slackened on James enough for him to wriggle out. James spared a glance at Lily and saw that she was clutching her arm, which was twitching strangely, staring at Voldemort with wide eyes. The Death Eater had his grit back, obviously, as he pulled at James's robes.

James spotted his wand and pointed it at the Death Eater as he fell over with a crash, "_Stupefy!_" He yelled.

He turned back toward Lily, dreading what he would surely see, only to find Voldemort lying there, Lily partly held under his unconscious weight, and another Death Eater...

The Death Eater just stood there, looking down at his (the shoulders were too broad to be a woman, even if he was short enough) master. James could barely make out a face underneath the mask.

But now wasn't the time to be contemplating about meaningless pawns. Suddenly feeling very tired, James pulled himself to his knees and crawling toward Lily, careful of the glass that still resided all over the floor. He made a face as he forced himself to pick up the unconscious form of Voldemort off of Lily and set it aside. The man shifted. James held his breath. Voldemort settled again and James breathed.

Lily looked crumpled, like a piece of paper that had recently been thrown in the trash. Her face was pale enough, that was for sure. James feared for her life. He put his hand to her mouth, feeling her warm breath ease over his skin. He smiled sadly and looked at Lily's arm. It was rather disgusting. There was a large bloody gash there, that was surrounded by welts. The blood was smeared all over the place. James made a face and found his wand again. Bandages appeared on her arm. It would have to do. James wasn't the one for healing charms. He slipped an arm under Lily's head. There was a goose egg on her head where she'd fallen.

She was too heavy for him to lift in this position. James tried shifting her six times before he heard a noise and looked around frantically. Was someone going to–oh. The Death Eater was still there. James wondered how he'd forgotten about him. He smiled crookedly up at the man. "Could you help me?" James asked, relieved.

"No."

James's face fell. He eased Lily down again. He'd like to stand up and match the man, but he was too tired to nurse his ego now. Looking up, James said, "So what are you still doing here...?" He looked at Voldemort.

"He won't wake up for another ten minutes at least. You'll have time to get away."

"Ten minutes! But--"

"But you're dealing with Voldemort, James, he can deal with stunning spells quite easily."

James blanched. "How do you know my name?...and...why...why did you....?"

The man's shoulders drooped a bit. He was silent for a minute. Presently, he pulled his head up and muttered to James, "Get out of here soon. And...and tell Ha–your son–that my debt is paid."

"What debt?!" James said loudly.

The man hesitated. "...he saved my life--" He seemed to change his mind. The man shook his head and turned away, walking briskly down the corridor.

–x–x–

_Wanted to write 't write more...I'll have to wait for another time before I go ahead and spoil everything. ::winks::_

–_x–x– _

**REVIEW RESPONSES**

**Sariah Greenleaf: **_Don't worry, in the end it will all be explained in full (I hope). Regular mail, by the way, sounds ominous ._

**chibisuke: **_lol, indeed. A twist...I hate drama...too bad I'm doomed to fall into it forever..._

**Reader: **_Don't know if you'll ever read this, but whatever. Interesting review anyway, so I had to respond. I have noticed lately that I've turned this into something of an action packed story. Not enough attention to detail. Aggh...too bad. About the characterization. I did all that I could what with the lacking of depth that Rowling has displayed. I don't think there are hints about past things, but there are tons of foreshadowings that I can assure you will be explained later on._

**Ness Lupin:**_ Who's being mean? ::looks around::_

**CrazyMissSarah21: **_. . .I am so confused. What ships do I worship? I don't know! ::looks around suspiciously:: Anyway, ty for reviewing. You'll find out where Snapie is very soon, don't worry! Lol_

_A/N: As always, ty to everyone else who reviewed as well! Come back soon!_


	32. Love and Hate

_A/N: I think this will be my last chapter for at least two-three weeks. One of my friends and I challenged each other. She has to write two chapters of any story at all and I have to write the first chapter, character bios, and a plot for an original story of mine. The challenge ends December first, but after that I need to catch up on my other stories that I'm trying to write. I do love this story, but there have been a few problems that I can't ignore in my other stories._

_So, yeah. Enjoy this. To thank everyone (everyone who reviewed! Hint hint!) For reviewing so much I'm going to make this chapter longer than usual..._

_Oh yeah, and I need to do this for one of my friends (::coughs::Nova::coughs::). I am completely addicted to a certain roleplaying site. Get your butt here now or you shall die!!!! Go to my bio to find out the addy!! Hurry up!! _

–x–x–

**CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: LOVE AND HATE**

James blanched. "How do you know my name?...and...why...why did you....?"

The man's shoulders drooped a bit. He was silent for a minute. Presently, he pulled his head up and muttered to James, "Get out of here soon. And...and tell Ha–your son–that my debt is paid."

"What debt?!" James said loudly.

The man hesitated. "...he saved my life--" He seemed to change his mind. The man shook his head and turned away, walking briskly down the corridor.

–x–x–

"Shut up!" Moony finally snapped at Snape. "Let her alone, what has she done to you?"

"Exist." Snape muttered, then felt horrible for saying it. He'd heard James saying something along the same lines about him. He wouldn't let up though, now that he'd started. "Why do you like her anyway, Lupin? She's pushy and rather ugly. And another thing--"

Moony growled carnally and smacked Snape on the back of the head. Snape, surprised, didn't hold his head up. He almost fell over.

"You..." Snape growled.

"Not fighting are we, little children?"

Moony almost screamed as a hand landed on his shoulder. Looking up, he realized that it was only Sirius.

"Padfoot..." Moony moaned, relieved.

Snape shrugged Sirius' hand off his own shoulder with a snarl and walked ahead.

"What's his problem?" Sirius said, scowling.

"You just arrived." Moony said, smirking. On his other side Wormtail scampered up, smiling brightly.

"Why so cheerful?" Moony asked curiously. In the corner of his eye Sirius' smile was looking rather fixed.

"Oh, nothing, just happy to see you...old friend."Wormtail said, then walked ahead, slightly behind Snape.

Moony watched Wormtail stepping on Snape's heels and laughing as he muttered, "So what happened?"

Sirius didn't answer immediately. Moony wondered if he'd even heard him. He was just thinking about asking again when beside him Sirius gave out a dry sob. Moony looked at him, suspicious and rather unnerved. Sirius' face was contorted into a fearful look. Moony had rarely seen him look like that. He wondered if he'd ever seen Sirius look like that. He looked on the verge of real tears.

"What's wrong?" Moony asked, fearing that someone had died. He and Sirius had slowed down considerably. They watched as Snape and Wormtail walked further away, Snape bellowing at the top of his voice and Wormtail giggling. Moony would have told them to shut up (only in more polite terms, but this was more important. It had to be.

Suddenly, Sirius stopped dead, still looking at Wormtail with that same mix of fear and sadness. He pulled Moony to a stop beside him and looked down at him, trying not to cry. He tried to speak twice before he could finally get his voice out in a half-whisper. It grated on Moony's nerves.

"He killed them, Moony."

Moony was confused. "What?" He asked, in a mutter.

"Wormtail killed them, Remus. He killed James. He's a Death Eater--" Sirius was almost hysterical as Moony came to the realization. He looked ahead at Wormtail. The two had only just noticed that they were gone. They were watching Moony and Sirius, finally silent.

Moony started walking again. "We're coming..." He said in a falsely cheerful voice. Wormtail shrugged and kept walking. Snape looked at him for a split-second longer before following. Behind Moony Sirius let out a muffled roar and slammed his fist into the wall. Moony turned grabbed at Sirius and pulled him along.

Sirius was crying. He whimpered as he touched his newly bruised and possibly broken knuckles. Moony spoke in quiet rasps, trying not to betray the all-too-true fact that he was also ready for a good long cry...or at least a chance to hex Wormtail into oblivion. "Come on," He was almost dragging Sirius. "Tell me what happened."

Sirius finished crying and wiped his eyes with his sleeve, clearly embarrassed. He shoved Moony's hand off of him as he began, "We got attacked...I told Wormtail to go ahead...." When he didn't continue Moony pinched his arm to get him out of his stupor. Sirius yelped. Wormtail and Snape looked back at them curiously, but both kept walking. Rubbing his arm, Sirius continued, "I finished with the Death Eaters...went ahead to go get Wormtail....I heard voices....thought it was Death Eaters....but...it wasn't....Wormtail–I mean, older Wormtail–he...he was telling himself everything.....

"He said that he joined You-Know-Who....he handed over James and Lily to You-Know-Who....but.....but...." Sirius looked confused. "But he was telling himself not to do it. He...he said that it...it wasn't....it wasn't...worth it...."

Sirius looked at Moony, who was thinking furiously.

"Everyone else knew."

"What?"

"Everyone else knows, Padfoot! Harry, me, Ron, Hermione–they all know! They didn't tell us!"

Sirius was furious. "Why didn't they tell us?"

Moony had to think about that. After a few moments, he said slowly, "Maybe....maybe they didn't want to change things...maybe this is the way that it's meant to be....maybe nothing should be changed. Also," And Moony thought he might be going too far to say this, "maybe they didn't want this to happen."

"What to happen?" Sirius asked, quieter.

"They must've known that we would react this way....didn't want to...to hurt us..."

Sirius didn't understand. "But we can stop it ever happening!" He said happily, "We can tell...." None of them were going to remember this. Sirius' face fell again, "We can tell everyone something that they're never going to remember..."

Moony nodded sadly. "I don't fully understand. But I know there must be a good reason behind everything."

"So what do we do?"

Moony sighed. "Nothing." He watched Wormtail's bouncing step. "Nothing." How horrible it felt to be so powerless.

They were silent as they came to a door ahead. Snape didn't even hesitate before going through the door.

They were outside on the large patio-balcony type thing. Looking around, they saw that there was only one Death Eater on a faraway tower. Besides that, the place was completely empty.

Above them, where they couldn't see, however, were multiple half-built levels. The main part of the fortress. There were windows. There were hundreds of Death Eaters inside. If they were seen...

"What do we do?" Snape asked quietly. They all looked at Moony. His thoughts were still on Wormtail's treachery.

"I don't care." He said brokenly.

Snape made up their minds. He went out to the open area. To the middle of it. Anyone would be able to see him. He looked up.

"No one's there..." Snape said uncertainly.

They had all been holding their breaths unconsciously and let it out as one.

Wormtail skittered out and took a deep breath. The night was cool, but not too bad. Stars filled the sky.

Moony followed Sirius out, still thinking, and felt the moonlight wash over him.

Moonlight.

Moonlight.

Moon.

He looked up, terror-stricken. His limbs began to shake.

Full Moon.

–x–x–

Stupid woman... Severus thought as he stumbled into Albus Dumbledore's office. The candles were still lit, the fire was still crackling, and Dumbledore was still up. Dressed in a nightshirt, the man sat behind his desk, stroking his phoenix's silky feathers. He looked up when Snape appeared there, coughing and patting his robes free of soot. Doesn't he ever sleep...? Snape thought, moments before he swept forward and began his story.

He'd told Tonks the situation. She hadn't understood. She was duller than the students in his potions classes. Severus had had to explain everything four times before she jumped up and exclaimed that the Order must be informed immediately. How intuitive we are... Snape thought acidly.

Tonks had sent Severus here to tell Dumbledore while she went off to call for help.

Duller than Snape's love for teaching.

So here Severus was, sooty and exhausted. And there Dumbledore was, calmly petting his dumb bird. Severus bit back a rude remark as he spoke. "The band of merry men have been caught."

Dumbledore didn't look surprised at all. "Oh?" He said. He seemed to be thinking. He wouldn't meet Severus' eyes.

"They were caught before Potter could make the portal. They're in the Dark Fortress now. I told them to stay in my chamber..."

"Do you think they obeyed?" Dumbledore asked.

"I hope they obeyed." He didn't reveal that he found it very doubtful that they would have.

"We need to go get them now." Dumbledore said simply. Severus didn't betray his thoughts on the dullness of everyone.

"There's another thing." Severus said quietly. Dumbledore looked at him with fake curiosity. "I've been found out....officially."

It was plain that Dumbledore had finally come across something that he hadn't previously known.

–x–x–

(A/N: Romance!! Ugh!!!!)

Ron and Hermione could hear the barks, growls, whimpers, and so on of Professor Lupin. Hermione almost cried.

He was an animal. They could almost hear it every time he bit himself–having no one else to bite. Ron was shaking.

"I feel so sorry for him." Hermione moaned.

The two had been sitting on different sides of the cell, but at the sound of their teacher's yelps the two had merged into the middle of the room, clutching onto each other.

"He goes through this every month." Hermione said, cringing further into Ron's arms.

"I know," He said simply, for lack of anything else to say. It seemed the only thing acceptable.

But something else was on Ron's mind. He was tired of keeping it to himself. If they died, he at least wanted Hermione to know...

"Hermione," He muttered. He tried to make his voice clearer, but it wouldn't work. His throat wasn't working properly.

"What?" She muttered into his chest. He felt her shaking and he pulled her closer. Lupin gave a rather loud yelp.

He didn't know if he should say it. He glanced at his pocket, where the ring was always nestling, waiting to be given away.

"I love you." Ron sighed, hugging her as if he would never let go.

–x–x–

She was finally moving. James had dragged Lily into one dark corridor, into a secluded corner where he hoped they wouldn't be seen. He didn't want to be around when Voldemort woke up.

He didn't know how long he sat there. Lily didn't wake up for a long time.

When she did move, it was only to shift. James came closer, watching. He touched her shoulder once, then cursed at himself as she moaned in pain. He'd touched near enough to her wound to hurt her.

Lily moaned louder. She squirmed underneath him, making James realize how close he was. He felt his cheeks go red, even when no one was there to see it. He backed away and sat, watching as her eyes finally fluttered open.

James wished he could kiss her.

Panic entered her eyes for a moment. But no danger came about.

He'd thought that she would stand up the moment she saw him over her. But she didn't. She stayed perfectly still, watching his face.

James' arms were on either side of Lily. Their faces were inches apart.

James' voice came out husky. He didn't notice. "I want to kiss you."

Lily said nothing. Her lips parted slightly.

James leaned down

and heard footsteps coming near. He groaned audibly. Lily made a funny noise and sat up in a flash. She bumped her head on his as she did so.

"Ouch!" James exclaimed, rubbing his forehead. Lily was rubbing hers too as she stood up, pulling out her wand.

James wasn't watching. He cursed himself over and over in his head. Why had he hesitated? Why? Why? Why??

"Oh." Lily sighed. James was happy to note that she didn't sound very happy. "It's you, Harry."

James looked up at Harry, who was raising an eyebrow at him. "What are you two doing?"

James laughed nervously. He stood up. Sure, it must not be too great to catch your parents going at it, but nevertheless he'd have loved to be in Harry's position. But had they really done anything? The more James thought about it, the more he realized that Lily would probably pass this off as a moment of insanity. He felt miserable.

James noticed that he was still laughing, almost hysterically, and both Lily and Harry were looking at him strangely. He immediately shut his mouth.

Remember, Jamesie, play it cool.

He rumpled his hair and pulled his shoulders up.

"Any luck with Hermione and Ron?" He asked.

Now it was Harry's turn to be embarrassed. He coughed slightly and said shortly, "No." I couldn't get the lock to the cell undone."

James smirked, "Tut, tut. Sixteen and we don't even know--"

"I tried it," Harry interrupted, clearly annoyed "Didn't work. I need help."

James smiled and draped an arm around Harry's shoulder. "Well, we'll help you out. What are parents for?"

Harry smiled slightly, warmly, and said, "I'm so glad I have such loving parents to save me."

James no longer felt uncomfortable around Harry. He was about to say something smart, but remembered something else, "Oh, by the way, some Death Eater saved us from You-Know-Who, and he told me to tell you that his debt is repaid."

Harry stiffened. James faltered, thinking he'd said something wrong.

"When?" Lily asked behind them

"You'd fainted by then--"

"What did he look like?" Harry asked.

James shook his head as they walked, Lily following curiously, "Never saw his face. Kinda weird, he was. He knew my name and everything–and I asked him what he was talking about when he told me to tell you. All he said was that you saved his life. Seemed a bit like he was stating the obvious if you ask me..."

–x–x–

___A/N: There_ _we go. Hope you all got some good reading out of that. Seems more like a filler-chappie though. Anyway, everyone who reads this ought to review. There are a billion people with me on their favorites list. I know I'm being greedy, but come on! ::sniffs::_

_–x–x–_

_**REVIEW RESPONSES**_

_supernova8610-I need to thank you for reviewing like, all of my stories. I noticed the other day that you review a whole lot and I wanted to thank you for that. So...uhm...thank you?_

_CrazyMissSarah21-Ahhh! Ok, now I feel kinda dumb. Okay. What relationships do I support? Let's see. Harry/Luna is one that I really like. I didn't much like her until the very end of the book. Harry/Ginny sounds okay. Ron/Hermione (duh I support that, as you can see from this chapter) is the best...Harry/Hermione, Neville/Ginny, and Neville/Hermione are okay, but I still don't like them. And if anyone likes Ron/Luna or Neville/Luna I think they've ultimately gone insane. Do I blab too much?_

_actionmaster- No way! It was Peter!_

_apotterlover- Yep, it was Peter._

_Ness Lupin- There's some more Moony for you . More to come! Lol_


	33. Transformation

_I am late. I know I am late. Do not tell me that I am late, because I know that I am late. Ness! This is for you! Just know that I spent the whole day finding other things to do to put this evil thing off longer! Ugh...this is going to be a horribly written chapter, I can feel it..._

**CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: TRANSFORMATION**

"What did he look like?" Harry asked.

James shook his head as they walked, Lily following curiously, "Never saw his face. Kinda weird, he was. He knew my name and everything–and I asked him what he was talking about when he told me to tell you. All he said was that you saved his life. Seemed a bit like he was stating the obvious if you ask me..."

-x-x-

It was a storm coming. James could hear it. A long way down the hall. Growls, barks...kind of like Sirius'.

Wormtail had come. Wormtail couldn't fight. He was too small, too weak. He needed James. Sirius needed James...to help.

Lily was staring at them all, confusedly. Harry looked sick. Wormtail looked...well...like Wormtail.

James sensed them coming. He could see them running. Moony was on Sirius' heels. Sirius was running in the only direction that he could go–which was toward them.

"Wormtail." He whispered as the rampaging dogs neared, "Run away, please. Take Lily with you."

He'd done this so many times before.

"You're good at transfiguration," Harry said, "Change me, so I can help."

James glanced at Harry with a smirk, "You expect to take on the Dark Lord and you don't even know a good transfiguration spell?" Then he promptly sent a spell at Harry before a response came, shoved the wand back into his robes, and transformed.

James could see Sirius and Moony now. They were nearer now.

When he turned into the stag James could not speak, but he always could get his point across. He tilted his now heavy head at Harry, a gesture for his son to join him. He'd done a good job, James realized momentarily, he'd never gotten the lion down.

Moony screamed down the corridor, eyes mad with rage and carnal hunger.

-x-x-

A younger Severus Snape watched his breath turning into icy clouds in front of his face. The place was cold, especially in the night. He didn't notice before just then, though, since he'd been in too much terror to realize that the air around him was colder than his heart.

He should have noticed, should have realized.

Damn "Marauders" (so they called themselves) and their adventure. Their need for attention. Even the fact that Remus Lupin turned out to be possessed by the spirit of a werewolf couldn't stop them, oh no...but they had to find a way to fit in with him. Black...a dog. How it suited him. A mutt to be kicked around, that was what Snape would like to do with him–

Pettigrew. He made that wheezy noise when he ran. Severus shot out an arm into the hallway to catch the passing boy, but instead laid arms on Evans. He could see her hair in the dim light.

Pettigrew passed.

An acromantula could pass and that idiot wouldn't notice.

"Why didn't you yell out or something?" Severus asked, letting go of Evans.

"I don't know." Evans muttered, watching Pettigrew run off. "Why? Did you want me to yell?"

Severus narrowed his eyes in response.

Evans gave him a beady look in return.

"Where were you, then?" Evans interrogated.

"I ran off, what do you think?" He said grumpily as they began walking toward where Severus could only suppose was the direction Pettigrew had scampered off to. He sighed unhappily, muttering, "Guess we've found out what they named 'Moony' for."

Lily nodded slightly, thinking. Then she said, "Peter came to tell us what happened and James ran off to help." A thought suddenly seemed to occur to her, "Shouldn't we be running?"

Severus nodded, looking behind them.

The two set off at a jog at the same time.

He looked down at Evans and saw her smiling, and felt something stir in his heart, momentarily.

Disgusting.

-x-x-

"Where _are_ you, Lily?" Wormtail yelled out. She'd just disappeared! How could she have done that? She was right behind him!

He wandered through hallways, hoping beyond hope that he wouldn't run into Moony, and stumbled into one particularly grand room.

Two chairs and a fireplace that was empty. All light came from a single candle on a bare table in between the chairs. A rug was squished beneath Wormtail's feet as he came further into the room.

"Hello Wormtail."

Wormtail squealed and jumped at least two feet into the air. Right behind him–

was something he really hadn't expected.

"You...you..." He gulped, backing away. He ran into a chair and almost fell over it, but thankfully kept his balance. Red eyes bored into his own.

"Me."

Wormtail nodded.

"Sit down, Wormtail, please." Voldemort said.

-x-x-

They caught him.

Or at least they were about to.

Escape, at least.

Moony was insane.

Harry was almost batting Moony around like a play-thing. He was so giant, it made James swell with pride. That was probably what was keeping them alive. They were being backed up outside onto the patio by the crazed werewolf, and so far James assumed they would just shut Moony inside, keep him at bay by the doors by leaving their human scents there.

This wasn't too difficult. They could deal. They backed onto the porch and Harry kept Moony away while Sirius and James transformed, but Harry roared before they could shut the doors. The two friends looked up and knew why. Lily and Snape–on the other side–with Moony.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" James roared as he changed back into a stag in a flash, kicking the two outside while Sirius struggled to shut the door. Lily and Snape rushed forward to help and together all three could shut the door on the massive, snarling thing that just a few hours ago was their friend.

They all panted.

"What were you doing...?" Sirius asked between pants.

"Wrong turn..." Lily gasped, clutching her side painfully.

Harry came, still a lion, and sat down in front of the door next to them. Snape, a picture of exhaustion, stared at him. He pulled out his wand and muttered the counter spell.

James was walking as a stag, still on alert. He looked around, ready for any Death Eaters, now that the nightmare of Moony was over (or at least kept away for the time being, they could still hear him on the other side of the door, scratching). His breath rushed through the black nostrils of the stag. The hooves clopped on the stone patio. When he changed back he sat down, letting himself fall...

"Ouch!" He yelled, sitting back up.

"What?" Everyone said. James touched his back and pulled his fingers back, surprised to find blood on them. He stood up and walked back to the door.

"What's happened to my back?" He asked, turned around.

"Did that thing scratch you?" Lily asked, standing up and touching him. He yelped.

James remembered vaguely a point when Moony had landed on his back after some attack from Harry and propelled himself off again...

"I think...yes..." James muttered.

"What was that anyway?" Lily asked, pulling James down to sit as she conjured some sort of paste with her wand, pulled his useless outer robes and shirt off (though not too kindly) and started rubbing it into his back. Behind them Harry and Sirius were talking and Snape was eyeing the door suspiciously.

James looked up at Lily sharply. Didn't she know...? "That was Moony. Remus."

Her hands stopped, hesitated, then resumed motion.

"Oh."

She must have figured it out by now. James could see Snape, listening in on them.

"Moony is a werewolf." James said. He hated silences. "And we're animagi." When she didn't respond he carried on. "We found out some time ago...about him. We wanted to help him. You know, he's usually not this bad...must be the high stress."

He saw her looking at the door, "Why doesn't he go away?"

James smirked at himself, "Humans. He can smell us. He wants to eat us..." Lily's hands shook momentarily.

"You have another scar here." Lily stated matter-of-factly.

"That's from a different time, when some people were out..." He hesitated, then, "We were all exploring in Hogsmeade...and someone came outside. Moony attacked. We had to get him away. It wasn't that bad, you see. When he's with us he's more human in werewolf form. But he still got me..."

Lily had stopped rubbing for a few seconds, but resumed, "You should have stopped going out after that."

"I don't care. Moony didn't mean it. I didn't even tell him about it because he would've gone berserk if he knew...besides. Ole' Siri and I would never let him sit around in the dark all that time...by himself..."

_(July 18) A/N: I've just redone this chapter because I left some vital information out before...mind you, it's still not very good. I had to fix it up very sloppily after the power went out..._


	34. The First Defiance

**  
**_A/N: Quick note before you head on, I've redone chapter 33 because I was missing stuff--go check it out before you look at this._

**CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: THE FIRST DEFIANCE**

"You should have stopped going out after that."

"I don't care. Moony didn't mean it. I didn't even tell him about it because he would've gone berserk if he knew...besides. Ole' Siri and I would never let him sit around in the dark all that time...by himself..."

-x-x-

Wormtail was going to be a good servant for the Dark Lord. He knew it already. He could see a sort of fatherly admiration in his Master's eyes already. His Master had said that he had actually been the one to help bring him back to full strength after a very trying time. So he was useful as a Death Eater.

Nothing could change his mind now.

Oh, his dear mother would be furious if she ever found out.

Wormtail laughed as he took the stairs two at a time to the alternate door out to the patio. He didn't want to pass anywhere near Moony on the way. In any case, it probably wouldn't matter since his Master had given him this stone. It was black. Voldemort had called it a calling stone.

Find Potter, he'd said, then summon me with this.

-x-x-

"Where did you come from?" James said, eyebrow raised, when Wormtail seemingly turned up out of nowhere. Wormtail smiled at him and looked at them all.

"I found a different door out to here." He said with a grin.

"Ah."

"Hey, Wormtail." Harry said abruptly, everyone looked at him. He was suddenly frowning, green eyes fixed on Wormtail, who was standing alone. "What's that in y--"

They never found out what he was going to say, however, because at that moment Harry gasped and clapped his hands to his forehead as if suffering a terrible headache. Then he began to laugh shrilly.

No one seemed to want to step any nearer to him as he laughed and laughed. They just stared at him.

When the laughter was suddenly cut off Harry was left breathing shakily, crouching on the ground. He looked up and all around suddenly, moving so fast that James felt he must be using some spell to do it.

-x-x-

Peter Pettigrew barely hesitated before opening the cell door of Weasley and Granger's cell. They looked up, dazzled by the sudden light, weak as it was.

As soon as they realized who he was they scowled. Weasley jeered at him, "Come to bring us the evening meal, old chum?"

Peter didn't know quite what to say. He swallowed, at loss for words.

They were uncomfortable when he didn't say anything.

"Why did you open the door?" Granger asked.

He looked at the floor. "Go up. You'll find Potter there." Then he went on, hurrying upstairs. He flinched as he heard Remus screaming as he bit himself.

-x-x-

It was difficult to describe what Harry and Voldemort's duel looked like. James couldn't see half of what they were doing. Then again, he might not even have understood what it was they were doing if he could see it. It was like watching one of his own sad duels, only put on fast forward and with much more advanced spells.

Harry was a year younger than him and it looked like he could be a senior auror.

James was so enwrapped in this fight that he didn't notice when the rest of the bad guys arrived. At least not until Sirius let out his bark-like battle cry.

Harry and Voldemort might've been an interesting sight, but James now had other things on his mind. He pulled out his wand and started sending spells everywhere. The whole thing quickly turned into a blur of sounds and movements of his own that he didn't have time to pay attention to much else. He took in the fact that he, Sirius, and Lily were outnumbered by at least ten to one before someone sent him flying into a wall some twenty yards away from the main battle.

"Fool." James looked up at the voice, rubbing his hip and elbow where most of his body weight had collided with the very sturdy wall. Snape stood there, looking very furtive and small. The guy was just standing there. James scowled and stood up, grabbing Snape's wrist forcefully.

"Come help." James said, anger blazing.

"No, this is stupid."

"We could die."

"Yes, you certainly could." Snape said, leering.

They glared at each other, unnoticing of the chaos around them for just a moment. James came back to his senses first.

"Fine." He muttered, throwing Snape's arm back at him as if it were a rotten fish.

"Should've been smart like Pettigrew–he ran off." Snape said as James began running back. "Who said Gryffindors were brave?"

"Coward! You sack of--" James abruptly got control of himself as he dodged a reductor curse. "I don't care if Peter ran away, I know he's more of a coward than any of us. I was asking _you_ to come, not him. You're worth more than him anyway!"

When James turned back, face burning, pulling out his wand, he was surprised to see Snape by his side.

"Wha--" James said. But Snape wouldn't look at him or talk to him other than a quiet utterance that he didn't hear.

James smirked and looked back to the battle, where he was shocked to see thirty more wizards and witches fighting.

"You really thought your little speech got me up, Potter?" Snape said as he went to join in. James turned red and followed at a run.

-x-x-

"We found Harry." Ron said, looking frightened. He and Hermione nodded to each other, then ran in to join the rest of the lot in a strangely organized chaos.

-x-x-

James had spotted Ron and Hermione. It hadn't been a very merry meeting, but he did see them. In the process he might've been nearly killed since someone had hit him with an Impediment Curse. But someone had helped him. He didn't know who, didn't quite care. It was the sort of passing notice that didn't really matter at the moment, but certainly wouldn't be forgotten in the long run.

Snape was beside him. Snape. He was incredible–or at least better than James. James couldn't be sure, but he expected that Snape was trying to stay by his side, rather than hanging in the general area by the power of some weird twist of fate. The two made a surprisingly good team. James snapped off jinxes and hexes that were known by most of his year, and Snape went ahead and finished the job with things he'd never heard of. James knew that he would never be so grateful of the Dark Arts again.

James kept seeing Harry through the crowd. He wouldn't have noticed the boy if it hadn't been for the fact that, whether he liked it or not, Harry was losing spectacularly. James felt his heart pumping and he wasn't sure if it was because of all this exercise, or because he was afraid for his son who might die any second.

Harry screamed and James' heart stopped, but he was only hurt.

Only hurt?

Voldemort was baring down on Harry, triumph in his eyes. James was watching, horrified, unnoticing of anyone or anything else so that it must've been a miracle that he wasn't hit by a deflected curse.

"Move, James, come on!" A young woman close to him yelled as she passed. Didn't she see that Harry was going to die?

He couldn't...

James looked around as if confused by the events rolling around him. Lily was screaming something at him. She'd seen too. He couldn't hear her.

He made his decision quickly.

"SIRIUS! GET THE DOOR!" James roared.

"What?" Sirius yelled back, confused.

"JUST DO IT! LET OUT MOONY!"

Lily was still yelling at James. Her yelling quickly subsided when James became what he'd been named Prongs for, galloping at top speed toward her.

"Everyone move!" Sirius yelled, running toward the door where Moony was scratching, ready for the first person he could get his teeth around. Sirius unlatched the door, letting out a storm that ran for him first.

Lily grabbed onto Prongs' neck, gasping as she lifted herself halfway onto the stag's back. They headed for Harry, who lay below Voldemort like a human sacrifice.

When Sirius turned into Padfoot the dog Moony's attention on him dwindled and branched out to everyone around him. Everywhere, people scattered.

When Lily gave Harry an almighty wrench, lifting him onto Prongs' back as if he were a rag doll, she did not feel his weight. What she felt was fear of the man who'd suddenly turned his attentions on Lily and James, snarling–only to find that something else snarling was gamboling his way toward them.

"James!" Lily screamed as they galloped right through the spot where Lord Voldemort had been standing a moment before. Moony had collided with the Dark Lord right before Prongs had, knocking him flat.

Her scream turned into laughter as they galloped onward.

-x-x-


	35. What Happens After

**CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER**

"James!" Lily screamed as they galloped right through the spot where Lord Voldemort had been standing a moment before. Moony had collided with the Dark Lord right before Prongs had, knocking him flat.

Her scream turned into laughter as they galloped onward.

-x-x-

Sirius was standing, looking dazedly at Tonks as if she were an alien. Maybe it was her green hair, or maybe it was because all he could remember in the last five minutes was him running away from Moony, seeing Dumbledore somewhere, turning back into a human...and that Tonks had been waking him up. Or...he wasn't so sure he could call it "waking"...since he hadn't seemed to have been sleeping. He'd been standing up.

"You alright, kiddo?" She said, chuckling.

"What happened?" Sirius said, trying to keep his balance and his feet.

"Dumbledore froze time." She saw the shocked expression on his face and laughed, "I know. I never knew he could do it either."

Sirius, still confused, looked around. Orange and pink shadows lay over the barren land. The yellowish clouds were suddenly golden. The sun was coming up.

Moony walked up to him and laughed along with Sirius at all the Death Eaters, in the middle of elegant and dramatic wand formations. The Order of the Phoenix members were milling around them, talking or taking orders from Dumbledore.

Moony took hold of Sirius' sleeve like he was a five-year-old needing to be led around, and took him to the edge of the patio where a stone wall stood tall enough for them to sit on. Sirius looked at him. His robes were ripped in some spots. Sirius smiled a bit.

"You helped us, you know." He said.

Moony smiled, was about to say something, but was interrupted as Hermione, Ron, Snape, and Wormtail wandered up. Hermione said, "Well, we're not much use. Professor Dumbledore says that we need to hurry to go ahead and get everyone out before the spell wears off. He's just sent Professor Snape to go get Professor Lupin and he's gone to go find Harry and his parents..."

"Where did they go?"

-x-x-

Peter Pettigrew almost flinched as he picked up the smooth fabric of the Invisibility Cloak. He stroked it as if it were a cat or some other furry animal who he was particularly fond of, suddenly smiling for the first time in a long time.

Peter was old and bald. Stress had given his face wrinkles and made him thin. He was angry and treacherous, but he could still somehow remember better times. Under this cloak he'd spent his first adventures as a child.

He began to walk, barely realizing where he was going as he remembered times when he didn't feel like something dirty and rotten.

When he saw Dumbledore he almost ran for it. But he didn't. Dumbledore spotted him before he had enough time to do anything.

The old man came forward as if expecting Peter to run. Peter could see the kindness in his eyes and...something else that he didn't want to linger upon.

Dumbledore stopped directly in front of Peter Pettigrew, towering over him. He held out his hand kindly, not rudely. Peter looked for a scrap of hatred in those twinkling eyes as he handed over the cloak, silently.

And with a little smile, Dumbledore left.

Peter could never know who was the better leader between Dumbledore and the Dark Lord.

-x-x-

"So this is what we died for, huh?" James whispered.

"I guess so." Lily said, just as quietly.

Neither of them sounded resentful in the least toward their sleeping son. Harry had a very large bump on his head, scrapes on his elbows, and his knee was torn in a spot that, James felt, if he were a Muggle he would never again gain the ability to walk properly.

Both had been surprised to find, after a frantic search for injuries, these were Harry's only maladies.

Both were very very tired.

James' back ached from carrying at least two hundred pounds on his back. He vaguely wondered how Lily was feeling from dragging Harry up off the ground with her slender arms.

"I'm glad we did this, James." Lily said. They both looked at Harry, then at each other as if knowing for certain what the other was thinking.

James leaned in toward Lily, heart throbbing his in throat. Lily didn't move as he planted the tiniest kiss on her lips.

When they both leaned back enough to look at each other neither said a word.

"Ah, there you are."

James jumped about a foot in the air. "Oh...Professor Dumbledore..." Lily said in a voice too high pitched and flustered sounding.

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling maddeningly bright. James wanted to say, "What did you see?"...but instead he said, "Hello, Professor."

"Good to see you both in good health, if not perfect." Dumbledore said, smiling as his eyes roved over their bumps and bruises and Lily's patched up arm. He moved over to Harry and, without a word to either Lily or James, woke the boy up.

Harry moved with a very weak aura as he looked around at them all. His eyes were muddled and confused.

"How are you, Harry?" Dumbledore asked kindly.

"Fine." Harry croaked. It was plain to all of them that this was only halfway true.

Dumbledore lifted his wand and a stretcher appeared next to them, which Harry was promptly lifted onto.

"What's wrong with him?" James asked.

"He's just tired." Dumbledore said as they started toward the patio. "Oh, yes–I needed this give this back to you, James." He fished in an overly large pocket and found James' Invisibility cloak, handing it back to James and turned away, Harry following him tiredly on his stretcher.

-x-x-

There was a rush as everyone came to meet them. Ron and Hermione virtually ignored Lily and James and headed for Harry. Neither of them minded much.

Sirius, Moony, and Wormtail all started talking to James at once, explaining what happened and the whole situation with the motionless Death Eaters. Lily smiled the tiniest bit when she saw James look at her before agreeing to follow his friends to their self-proclaimed designated spot on the low wall to the east.

Snape looked at her as well before following them at a reasonable distance.

Suddenly Lily felt much warmer toward all these people. It was a shame, she realized, that she would soon be forgetting all of this. Even if it had possibly been the worst night of her life, she regretted that she would be forgetting–

–be forgetting what? James?

Yes.

Simple as that.

Lily looked at the assorted people around her, milling around and looking important, then at James and the Marauders. He and Sirius had found a new sport of knocking over the completely motionless Death Eaters like dominoes.

She could learn to love him.

-x-x-

Peter watched from the shadows.

Lupin was back with Severus Snape. So he had been the spy. Doubtless Peter's master already knew. He didn't think he would've told Lord Voldemort, in any case.

Peter looked down at his silver hand, flexing it, as Dumbledore started sorting everyone into groups and explaining how they were going to get out of here. You couldn't apparate out of here. Many of the Order of the Phoenix started walking.

He looked up when Dumbledore grouped together the children and got a portkey ready for them. Dumbledore saw him in the middle of his counting. Peter retreated into the shadows, but Dumbledore merely smiled that irritatingly superior smile.

-x-x-

"I love you." James whispered in between "2" and "1" of Dumbledore's counting. It was the only chance he got between friends and whisking away in a swirl of color.

-x-x-

After dropping off the Marauders, Lily, and Snape without much trouble, Ron and Hermione followed Dumbledore to the Hospital Wing. Harry had gone to sleep on the stretcher, looking much worse for wear.

Dumbledore dropped them off and Madam Pomfrey bustled around them, setting a couple of potions on Harry's bedside table that said plainly, "You will give this to him the moment he wakes up."

And wake up he did. They'd been sitting with him unattended for fifteen minutes when he woke up. He just opened his eyes and looked at them.

"Want to know what happened?" Ron said quietly, hoping not to catch the nurse's attention.

"No." Harry croaked. "Not yet."

They just looked at him.

"I have to tell you about what powers I have that the Dark Lord doesn't."

-x-x-

When James had gotten into his cot, he had every nerve set on going to sleep, but something stopped him.

He'd just remembered why they were there.

He'd wanted to find out if he really had kissed Lily.

He smiled at himself.

He certainly had. He would make sure of that.

-x-x-

When everyone woke up the next morning sleepy warmth seemed to cling to every bit of their skin. No one felt like getting up–except James. He lay in his cot, awake a half hour sooner than everyone else, thinking. He knew what he had to do.

And he decided to work it out as soon as Harry came into the room.

"Harry!" James said, springing up. Everyone else groaned with sleep.

"What?" Harry flung back, clearly confused as to why James was so...springy.

James was right next to Harry in a flash, high spirits suddenly gone. "I need to talk to you."

Harry nodded and set down the tray of food on a nearby table, leading James out into the deserted corridor. James wondered vaguely why he didn't even question him.

"Harry, you can't put a memory charm on me."

Harry sputtered. "What?"

"You have to skip me over or something, because if you don't then none of this would've happened and I might never marry Lily and you might never be born and..." He was suddenly smiling with the insanity and the brilliance of it. "Don't you see?"

Harry remained silent.

"Well, I guess not. But, here, let's see if this works for you." He took a deep breath and continued, "I've grown up. I don't know what you thought of me, but I swear, I was a kid before last night happened. I think there's a chance for Lily and I–only a chance–if I can remember this. Now I know what my feelings mean, and that there's even the slightest chance of us getting married...and...Harry...if we don't get married...you're not being born."

He swallowed.

Harry just looked at him.

"There's more of a reason behind this, isn't there?" Harry asked suspiciously.

James smiled. "Smart. Yes. But it would take forever to explain."

"Do you know what this means Dad? It means that you're going to remember me. You're going to be thinking of all of this on the day you die. What if you try to change it?"

James smiled knowingly, a bit like Dumbledore in fact. "Harry, I've learned a lot about time travel today...might even write a book about it, who knows. I do know, now, that you can't change the course of time. It is how it is. It's not something that changes as you will it. Time is like life itself. However much you try, it's not something that's going to change at the snap of your fingers."

"Meaning...?"

"I couldn't change it if I wanted, young Harry." James laughed.

Harry chuckled with him. James' laughter died as he realized that he hadn't seen Harry really laugh or smile so much since he'd gotten here.

"And that's another thing," He continued, "You need to lighten up."

"Huh?"

"Smile some more, laugh some more. It's not helping you or anyone around you when you pull this angry attitude. Why do you think Dumbledore's always laughing?"

-x-x-

"You know what, Siri...I'm starting to think that fate's got it in for us." James said laughingly ten minutes later, joining the lot of them to breakfast.

"How right you are."

Sirius and James chinked glasses of orange juice together and laughed.

"Still," Said James after taking a long swig of the tangy juice, "I hope I can remember this someday."

-x-x-

Harry was bringing them back, as before, and he was giving them time to hang around until lunch before he did it.

He'd decided to eat with them, was missing a class to do it, but didn't mind too much. It was potions.

He could see minuscule changes in everyone's faces. Everyone looked just a little bit older. It somehow suited Snape, as if he was born to look just a bit tired and quite a bit smarter. It bothered Harry how Snape kept looking over at Lily, as if expecting something from her. Harry saw something more than dislike in his face, and liked that even less.

James and Lily kept looking at each other, so Lily didn't notice these weird looks she was receiving from Snape. Wormtail was squirming in his seat, looking uncomfortable under a glare that Sirius had seemingly sent at him for no reason. Moony was looking off into space, smiling slightly

Harry wondered what was on everyone's mind...

-x-x-

Harry knocked on Dumbledore's door after, once again, having to guess the password into the old headmaster's quarters. He waited.

When the door opened no one was behind it. Harry stepped into the office, feeling the familiar pang of guilt when he saw that Dumbledore still hadn't replaced the many trinkets and tables that Harry had destroyed the previous year.

"Yes, Harry? Feeling better?" Dumbledore said from behind his desk. He was stroking Fawkes, who stood on his desk. Fawkes laid a beady eye on Harry and let out a soothing note. Harry smiled.

"Yes, I'm okay." Harry said, "I was wondering if there was anything that we might've forgotten.

"Ah. I did want to tell you something Harry." Dumbledore said, standing up and looking down at Harry with a smile. "I wanted to ask you to do a favor for me..."


	36. The Workings of Fate

**CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX: THE WORKINGS OF FATE**

"Yes, Harry? Feeling better?" Dumbledore said from behind his desk. He was stroking Fawkes, who stood on his desk. Fawkes laid a beady eye on Harry and let out a soothing note. Harry smiled.

"Yes, I'm okay." Harry said, "I was wondering if there was anything that we might've forgotten.

"Ah. I did want to tell you something Harry." Dumbledore said, standing up and looking down at Harry with a smile. "I wanted to ask you to do a favor for me..."

-x-x-

The sky outside was clear. There was no one outside but them–everyone was in class. When they all trouped down to the Forbidden Forest for the second time a feeling of unease had settled over them like a blanket on the hottest day of the year.

James and Lily kept looking at each other as if on the edge of panic. Harry could see them out of the corner of his eye.

They walked into the forest in a line with Harry in front. As soon as they went under the trees they felt the air around them grow cold. Harry felt it only halfway welcoming. His eyes were downcast as he led them through the trees, along a scarcely trodden path, away from the sound of Hagrid teaching a class about thestrals.

He found a spot surrounded by black thicket. He turned to them.

"We have something else to do first."

Everyone looked at him, confused. "What?" Said James, looking hopeful and frightened at the same time.

"We're going to before I was born so we can tell Dumbledore about two things. He's known all along about all of this. He knew what was going to happen--"

It sounded somewhat like a small explosion as everyone started talking angrily at the same time. Harry turned away from them, suddenly deaf of their voices as he began making the portal.

-x-x-

Albus Dumbledore sat behind his desk, thinking of that prophecy once again.

Sibyl Trelawny was comfortable in her tower, he supposed. She seemed quite thrilled, as he'd found that she rarely left the place. Good for her.

He could only wonder at when else she might prophesize while under the roof of Hogwarts.

He had yet to get access to birth dates and such...he would have to go to the Ministry for that, and Cornelius Fudge was someone that he didn't particularly like to cross paths with when he was trying to do something progressive. The portly man was a bit more annoying than Albus' new professor, if that was at all possible, but Dumbledore could handle him...so he would eventually go down to the Ministry...

In the meantime–

"Professor Dumbledore!"

"Ye--" Dumbledore stopped. The teenagers shuffled in, all looking rather resentfully at him and the one who'd first come in. Must've been a Potter. Dumbledore didn't know James had a bro–

And there the boy was. Dumbledore stared at them all, mind working at top speed.

"I believe I would appreciate an explanation very much." He finally said.

The first one smiled. "And that's what we're here for."

And with that, he launched into his story.

Dumbledore listened, looking intrigued. As the boy, Harry, rattled on the others around him all looked strangely hostile, but he ignored them. There was one point when he interrupted and the others all scowled. "Mr. Severus Snape is a Death Eater, you know, Harry. I do not think you should've trusted him--"

The boy Snape snarled as Dumbledore scanned his fingernails unconcernedly, but before he could say anything meaningful, Harry spoke again. "You–in the future–you said that Snape is to be trusted. He helped my parents when he wasn't obligated to–that's your reason, at least."

Dumbledore stared fixedly at him for a moment, then said, "Continue, please."

So Harry finished up with the long story that–he now realized with a slight jolt–had only spanned over a few days. It felt like weeks at least.

When his voice had suddenly died out, Dumbledore asked one thing, "And why has my older self asked you to pass on this information?"

Harry smiled. "He said you'd ask that. He wanted to let you know that Lily and James's first defiance–in their pasts–has been recognized. And also, as you know, that Snape should be trusted." His eyes took on a rather saddened look. "There is one more boy who you ought to know about–Neville Longbottom–he might've been the boy in the prophecy, you never know, he might still be." He smiled ruefully. "You've told me that you'll recognize the signs."

Dumbledore smiled at him, nodding. "I suppose that is all, then, young Harry?"

Harry smiled in a companionable way. "Of course." And he led the troupe back outside.

-x-x-

When Phineas Nigellus entered his frame again, he was in the middle of a rather interesting explanation made by a black haired boy wearing glasses.

When he left the frame there was a slight smile on his face. He knew that the Dark Lord would be pleased to know of the two boys...

-x-x-

When they were once again back in their own time there was a greater feeling of unease over them all. Their trust in Snape would be gone. They understood so. They would forget completely about Harry–though he explained that they might remember bits and pieces of this later on–and everything that happened. But apart from that James knew that the one thing that might've been on his mind would be forgetting Lily.

Of course, he was only vaguely worried about that–because unless Harry forgot to skip him over with the memory charm, he would remember everything until the day he died.

Harry asked them all to move closer so he could do his deed, and they all did rather grumpily.

When he set the spell, tapping each of them–but skipping over James–on the head with his wand, they all stared at him with a dazed expression.

Except for James, who smiled roguishly, whipped his hair back, and pushed Harry into the portal.

-x-x-

When it was all over, a week or so later, Harry did not quite know what to think of the whole situation. He'd pondered over it for a while, but did not fully understand it until he had a chance to speak with Professor Dumbledore.

Dumbledore's office was the same as always. Little magical objects whispered or flashed at him as he passed over the threshold, feeling only slightly uncomfortable.

Dumbledore himself was something to behold in bright orange robes marked with little indigo stars all over the cuffs. He looked at Harry with a small smile as the boy sat down across from him.

Neither of them spoke for a few moments, each holding the silence as if waiting for the other to talk first. Finally Harry cleared his throat and spoke, "I think there's something up with Professor Snape, sir."

"Oh?" Dumbledore said, frowning only slightly.

"Yes. He kept giving my mum funny looks–and they weren't bad looks. Just...funny. I..." He seemed to be trying to muster up the courage to say– "I think he likes my mum–in a love kind of way."

Dumbledore smiled as if congratulating him. "Yes, I had been suspecting of his feelings toward your mother for quite a while. You see, after this ordeal, his attitude toward her had quite lessened in venom–and his attitude toward James only became more poisonous. Oh no," He said, looking at Harry's thunderstruck face, "No, he never wanted her for himself, I believe. It is a different kind of love that I believe he had for your mother. A love more based on admiration, but in the end just as strong as any other–because in the end he let her choose for herself which man she more preferred, and never once held it against her when she chose James over him." He smiled, "I think that part of the reason Voldemort discovered his double-agent act was because seeing Lily again had weakened his defenses over his rather astute mind--"

"He's been found out?" Harry blurted out.

"Yes." Dumbledore said, suddenly looking a bit troubled. "In fact, he was found out on the night that you were all there. Officially, at least. I'm afraid there will be no changing Lord Voldemort's mind."

"Oh..." Harry then voiced another question that had been plaguing him for the last week, "Professor, how did Voldemort find out about my parents first defiance? You did say it was their first defiance, but then if Voldemort never knew--"

"I'm afraid that was something not to be helped, Harry. You see, Phineas Nigellus used to dislike me," He chuckled at Harry, "even more than he does now, and was quick to lend Lord Voldemort that useful bit of information from your explanation to me years and years ago."

"Ah." Harry said, feeling stupider by the minute. But he now had one more question, "And, Professor, how will we spy on Voldemort now?"

"Ah, Harry, I was wondering when you'd ask me this." Dumbledore said. He stood up, smiling serenely, and walked over to a cabinet on the far left of his office. He rummaged in a drawer inside for a moment, and then pulled out a black leather bound book with the Hogwarts crest on it. It looked battered and wrinkled on the edges, like elephant skin. Dumbledore flipped through the pages and smiled down at the one where he stopped–handing it over into Harry's curious, outstretched hand. Harry looked.

The Marauders, all waving happily up at him, had been given an entire page on their own. Random pictures of them playing quidditch or working in class or sitting by the lake. Harry looked up at Dumbledore, who said, "Wormtail is on those pages, looking quite the friend. I believe he's returned to his past, you see."

"What?" Harry said, photo album almost slipping out of his shocked fingers.

"Yes, Harry." Dumbledore said gravely, "He left us–but as the evidence points us, he might very well have come back to his beginnings." He held up a hand as Harry tried to interrupt, "He saved Lily and James that night, which is understandable considering his position with you. But only of his own accord could he have set Ron and Hermione free, given James back his invisibility cloak, and refrained from setting his fellow Death Eaters free from my time spell when we were leaving the Dark Fortress."

-x-x-

Wormtail watched the owl fly away into the dull morning light, suddenly feeling less guilty. He'd thought it over–the first moment he'd had to sit and think since a week ago. Not only was he, once again, feeling guilty about his friends and Harry and a number of other cruel deeds, but he'd been feeling guilty over possibly ruining it.

He'd thought he could change the future. He supposed he should've known that blood-lust in anyone's eyes–even his own.

He could change it now, though. He could not change the course of time, but he'd be damned if he didn't change himself.

-x-x-

Sitting up on his throne like the god that he wanted to become, Lord Voldemort had discovered the meaning of time travel.

You could not change time. You could not do something or say something wrong, then go back and change it. However hard you tried, fate would have it that you simply could not change that one thing.

That was what he'd discovered. He would never again make the mistake in thinking that anything could be rearranged to fit his needs. James and Lily had possibly become stronger with their ordeal–more ready for him when the time came to save Harry Potter from him. He had thought before that other things might mix up time. Now he knew better.

Time was barely penetrable as it was. A wizard could not change it, no matter the circumstances, his weapons, or his cleverness. Fate had set it up, like a giant puzzle, so that no matter what, nothing could break through that shield around their destinies.

Perhaps someday Lord Voldemort would try to look into it, just to test his limits.

He smiled ruefully at himself in the empty room. He'd always tested the limits. Fate had been very kind to him in all points but one–and that concerned Harry Potter. Potter seemed to be Fate's kindest tool.

Perhaps his Fate was already set. After all, he was the clever, disobedient child. No elder would stand to have a child more clever than he around.

Lord Voldemort blinked and rid his mind of all thought, as if chasing away a stray cat.

-x-x-

When Vanessa saw the Marauders again only an hour had passed. She'd been roaming the halls, feeling rather upset and left out. Why hadn't she gone for the chain as well? Everyone else had gone, and she'd been left behind.

She'd been kicking grumpily at the floor in the Entrance Hall when Remus's voice entered her conscience, "Don't look so angry, Ness." And she'd turned around, throwing herself into his arms while James, Sirius, and Wormtail looked on uncomfortably.

"So what happened?" Ness asked, smiling widely at the lot of them cheerfully. They all looked exactly the same–same clothes, same hair, same everything–but something seemed different that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Remus sighed, looking a bit defeated. "It didn't work. We all turned up in the forest. How long's it been?"

"About an hour." Ness said bluntly. She was looking at James, who was suddenly being quite furtive. "What's the matter, Jamesie?"

He smiled, now looking uncomfortable–something was definitely up. If anyone was different, it was him, she decided. His face was different. His eyes looked...older. "Nothing, really...I guess it's just that, well, I've got to admit now that maybe Lily was right."

Sirius, looking furious, tried to speak, but James cut him off with raucous laughter and said, "Oh, come off it, Padfoot..."

-x-x-

Severus Snape, aged twenty-four, stopped in the middle of speaking. The Dark Lord looked at him suspiciously, but he didn't much care. He'd just remembered something. Lily Evans' face. Now that was interesting...and she was right next to him...so close...

The memory disappeared as quickly as it had come.

He suddenly had much less desire to tell Lord Voldemort about that charm on the Potters' house...

-x-x-

It was late at night--or perhaps early in the morning--and James was looking at the time turner hopefully. He hoped he was right. He hoped it didn't send him to the wrong time again. He hoped this would work.

He stood up off his bed, changed into the clothes he'd been wearing days ago before they left on their adventure, and began turning the little hourglass. He licked his lips as if expecting to be doing a lot of snogging.

He couldn't wait to give Lily the one little kiss that would change his life forever.

-o-o-

_A/N: The story is finished. As you've all probably realized, the entire plot is explained in the last two or three chapters. Confusing no? Read it again and tell me my mistakes, because I am still thinking of redoing it to work with HBP...even though that book basically shot down my theories in flames sighs If I revamp it I will not be writing any review responses, except for on the first chapter where I will write out a long list of thank you's and such for help or particularly kind reviews. Please tell me if you want me to revamp it, if I get enough requests and motivation, I will gladly write the story again and alter the plot to fit in with book six. Thank you everyone, and be sure not to listen to the radio if you don't want HBP spoiled for you, I've already heard a spoiler that would've killed me if I hadn't already finished the book!_

_On a different note, I almost didn't finish this story. The fact that HBP came out, and the fact that it completely killed my motivation for a few days almost killed the story. I'd finished it and was waiting until I finished reading book six before I posted the last three chapters. I need to thank, and possibly murder (who knows, lol) Ness Lupin for sending me a nasty email and forcing me to post these last chapters. I want to thank everyone else, and if you particularly helped me in any way, I'll most likely send you a thank you email. _


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